UP Govt cancels the licence of all 16 thousand Madarsas in UP
The Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh has taken a bold step by revoking the licences of all 16,000 Madrasas across the state. This decision, announced by the Uttar Pradesh government, will effectively compel Madrasa students to seek admission in government schools.
It was on March 22 that the Allahabad High Court declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act 2004, unconstitutional. While calling the act violative of the principles of secularism, the Court said that Madarsa education is against the principle of secularism, and the State must make sure that students taking part in religious teachings should be accommodated in the formal education system.
A bench including Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi called the law as Ultra Vires and instructed the UP Government to shift the children from Madarsa to a formal education board. The ruling comes months after the State government decided to conduct a survey on the Islamic education institutions in the State and it had also formed an SIT in October 2023 to probe madrassas’ funds from abroad.
Notably, one Anshuman Singh Rathore filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court challenging the funds and management of the UP Madarsa Board as well as objecting to the role of the Minority Welfare Department in Madarsa’s, both by Union of India and State Government and other connected issues.
Following the petition, the division bench in December 2023, raised its concerns about potential arbitrariness and stressed the need for transparency in the administration of educational institutions, noting the broader issue of whether such decisions align with principles of equal opportunity and secular governance.
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Back in October 2019, the HC referred certain essential questions surrounding the concerns of the functioning and structure of the Madrasa board to a larger bench in a writ petition named Mohammad Javed Vs. State of U.P. and others.
These questions were as follows:
“(i) Since the Madarsa Board is constituted for education in ‘Arabic, Urdu, Parsian, Islamic-studies, Tibb Logic, Philosophy and includes such other branches of learning as may be specified by the Board from time to time’, how come persons of a particular religion are provided to be member of the same? It does not talks about exponence in the aforesaid fields, for the purposes of which the Board is constituted, but persons of specific religion. It was put to learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel as to whether the purpose of the Board is to impart religious education only, to which he submits that a perusal of the Madarsa Education Act, 2004 does not indicate so.
(ii) With a secular constitution in India, can persons of a particular religion be appointed/nominated in a Board for education purposes or it should be persons belonging to any religion, who are exponents in the fields for the purposes of which the Board is constituted or such persons should be appointed, without any regard to religion, who are exponents in the field for the purposes of which the Board is constituted?
(iii) The Act further provides the Board to function under the Minority Welfare Ministry of State of U.P., hence, a question arises as to whether it is arbitrary for providing the Madarsa education to be run under the Minority Welfare Department while all the other education institutions including those belonging to other minorities communities like Jains, Sikhs, Christians etc being run under the Education Ministry and whether it arbitrarily denies the benefit of experts of education and their policies to the children studying in Madarsa?”
It’s worth recalling that in February of this year, the state government initiated an effort to trace the source of funding for over 1,500 unregistered madrassas in the Indo-Nepal border regions.
The cancellation of Madrasa licences marks a significant shift in the state’s approach towards religious education institutions. The move aims to streamline the education system in Uttar Pradesh and ensure uniformity in the curriculum and standards across all educational institutions.
Under the new directive, students currently enrolled in madrasas will be required to transfer to government schools to continue their education. This transition is expected to provide students with access to a broader range of educational opportunities and resources, enhancing their overall learning experience.
It is noteworthy that Uttar Pradesh is home to over 25,000 madrasas, of which approximately 16,500 are officially recognised by the UP Board of Madrasa Education.
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