GUWAHATI: Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday he announced that the state government will close all government madrassas in Assam because it cannot allow religious education with public money. Sarma said a notice will be issued next month.
“Institutes of religious education will not be allowed to run on government funds. In November we will publish a notification to that effect. We have nothing to say about privately run madrassas, ”said Sarma.
Shortly after this statement, AIUDF supreme and Lok Sabha deputy Badruddin Ajmal said that if the BJP-led state government closes the government-run madrassas, their party would reopen them after coming to power in the elections. to the assembly scheduled for early next year.
“Madrassas cannot be closed. After we come to power, we will make a cabinet decision to reopen these 50-60 year old madrassas if this current government closes them by force, ”Ajmal said.
In February, Sarma had announced that the government planned to close not only the government-run madrassas, but also the “tols” of Sanksrit. He had then justified it by saying that religious teachings cannot be carried out with government funds in a secular country.
However, on Thursday, Sarma said: “The Sanksrit tol matter was different.”
“The objection to the government-run Sanksrit tols is that they are not transparent. We are taking steps to address this, ”he said.
There are 614 government madrasas in Assam and around 900 private madrasas, almost all run by Jamiat Ulama, while there are around 100 government tols in Sanskrit and more than 500 private tols. The government spends around Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore in madrasas in the state and around Rs 1 crore in Sanskrit tols annually.
Two years ago, the state government had eliminated the two control boards: State Madrassa Education Board and Assam Sanskrit Board – and brought the madrasas under the Assam (Seba) Secondary Education Council and the Sanskrit tols under Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and University of Ancient Studies Introduce modern education to students to bring them into the mainstream.
Sanskrit education in the state became official under Assam Sanskrit Education Law enacted in 1957, while the madrassa educational system began in 1780.
On video: Assam prepares to close all government-run madrasas
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