The state of education in the Muslim community is in very dilapidated condition. Most of the Muslim parents have an inclination towards enrolling their kids in religious institutions like the Madrasas. The religious education imparted in these Madrasas is very much different from the mainstream educational institutions and has produced many hardline radical Islamists. To reform this lot, the Yogi government is continuously making reforms in Madrasa education.
Yogi stops grant for Madrasas
The previous Akhilesh government followed appeasement politics to the brim and gave continuous grants to Madrasas in the state. But the new UP government under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath has done away with appeasement politics and follows the Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas policy. Contrary to what he is shown in the media circles, Yogi Adityanath is taking progressive steps for the welfare of the Muslim community. He is correcting the problem prevalent among the Muslim community, at the very root of it, that is, Madrasa education.
Read More: 5000 Madarsa’s are being shut down in Uttar Pradesh
In a recent development, the UP Cabinet has accepted the proposal to stop grants to new Madrasas in the state. Earlier, his government started a scheme to modernise Madrasas in the state and in the 2020-2021 budget, the Yogi administration allocated ₹ 479 crores, granting funds to the 558 Madrasas out of nearly 16,000 registered Madrassas in the state. With this new step, the Yogi government has made it clear that religious education at the expense of taxpayers’ money will not continue. It will keep on reforming the education in Madrasas through different course corrective measures.
Earlier Steps of Yogi government
To instill the feelings of patriotism and for cultural awareness among students, the Registrar of the Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Education Board issued an order to make it mandatory for all Madrasas to recite the National Anthem. The government announced to introduce new subjects like Hindi, English, Math, Social Sciences and Science and make them mandatory. The UP Madarsa Board chairman said, “Six examination papers will be made mandatory with the addition of these subjects. These subjects were optional until now and taught from NCERT books. We want our students to be part of the mainstream.”
Read More: Yogi set the tone, Narottam Mishra is now taking the mantle forward
Himanta Biswa Sarma: Voice for reform in Madrasa education
Himanta Biswa Sarma took on himself to modernise and mainstream children getting Madrasa education. For that, he made it clear that nobody in the Muslim community wants more Mullas and Maulvis instead they want their kids to become doctors and Engineers. He set the tone and ended the funnelling of taxpayers’ money towards religious education imparted in the Madrasas. He ended the government grants to any religious institution whether Madrasas or Sanskriti imparting institutions. He asked the officials to convert these shut Madrasas into general schools where the kids can get mainstream education and the sorry state of education in Muslims can be improved.
The Madrasas in the past have been involved in many criminalities which include heinous atrocities on children by the Maulvis. Hence, there has been continuous demand to either shut those Madrasas which had been involved in radicalising young kids or continuously reform these Madrasas. Hence, these steps by the two BJP ruled states to modernise Madrasas should act as a template for other states to bring Muslim youth in mainstream and minimize the chances of radicalisation.
