Assam’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a notification will be issued in November regarding the closure of all state madrassas. About 100 Sanskrit tols will also be closed in the state, he added.
“All state madrassas will become regular schools or, in certain cases, teachers will be transferred to state schools and madrassas will be closed. A notification will be released in November, ”he said.
Madrasahs are educational institutions where the Koran and Islamic holy law are taught along with mathematics, grammar, poetry, and history. According to a report published on the academic and research website The conversationThe Indian government reports that 4 percent of Muslim students attend madrasahs in the country full time.
In the BJP-led government of Assam’s attempt not to spend money on religious institutions, it has made the decision to convert the madrassas into regular schools or transfer its teachers to other schools and close them.
“In my opinion, the teaching of the Quran cannot happen at the expense of government money. If we have to, we must also teach both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. So, we want to bring uniformity and stop this practice, ”the minister told the ANI news agency.
There are 614 recognized madrasahs in Assam, according to the State Madrasah Board of Education (SMEB). Up to 400 of these are senior madrasas, 112 are secondary madrasas, and the remaining 102 are senior madrasas, the SMEB website said.
Of the total recognized madrassas, 57 are for girls, 3 are for boys and 554 are mixed. Seventeen madrasas are run in Urdu, he added.
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