The Assam government on Monday introduced a bill in the Assembly to convert all state madrassas into regular schools amid objections from a united Opposition.
Introducing the bill at the three-day session of the Assembly, which began on Monday, Chief State Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that he proposes to abolish two existing laws: the Assam Madrassa (Provincialization) Education Act of 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education Act (Provincialization of Employee Services Act and Reorganization of Madrassa Educational Institutions), 2018.
At present, Assam has two types of state madrasas: 189 madrasa and madrasa upper secondary schools administered by the Assam Secondary Education Board (SEBA) and the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC); and 542 pre-senior, senior and madrasa and Arabic colleges run by the State Madrasa Board of Education.
Sarma told the Assembly: “Madrasah education has been going on since the pre-independence era … What if someone goes to court today and asks if the government is spending 600 million rupees to teach the Quran ? Why not spend the same to teach the Quran? Bible … (or) the Bhagwad Gita? “
He said that the proposed law will in no way attempt to stop the spiritual education of any religion, and that no one can step outside the purview of the Constitution and stop educational institutions. “What we can do is modernize those educational institutions,” he said, clarifying that the bill is not intended to regulate education provided by private institutions.
The minister said that the madrassas teach the preliminary course of the Holy Qur’an and Arabic education, adding that even when the madrassas become regular schools, Arabic education will continue. “That means that we are only abolishing the education of the Koran,” he said.
Lawmakers from AIUDF, the party led by parliamentarian and perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal, organized a strike, claiming that the state government was trying to profit politically by focusing on the word ‘madrassa’ and polarizing voters before the Assembly elections next year.
The Indian Express had previously reported that an official note on the points approved by the Assam Cabinet earlier this month showed that the government decided to dissolve the Madrassa State Board of Education after the results of the academic year exam were announced. 2021-22. Thereafter, all records, bank accounts and personnel will be transferred to SEBA.
These institutions will admit students from April of next year against “relevant courses from SCERT, SEBA and AHSEC as appropriate for their institutions.” From the Arab pre-senior, senior and degree madrasas and universities, subjects such as the Holy Quran, Islamic Studies, Fiqh, Hadith, Usul Al Fiqh, Tafsir, Hadith and Fariad will be eliminated, although Arabic will continue to be taught as a language.
Staff will continue to receive salaries and benefits, although the account manager will change from ‘Madrasa Education’ to ‘Secondary Education’.
On the tolls in Sanskrit, the note said that the existing 97 provincialized tolls will become “Study centers, research centers and institutions to study the Certificate / Diploma / Bachelor courses that will be initiated by the Kumar Bhaskar Varma University of Ancient and Sanskrit Studies , Nalbari with effect from 1/4/2022 ”.
“There will be no new admission to provincialized Sanskrit tolls as of 1/4/2021. Students must enter secondary schools, ”he had said.
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