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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Supreme Court that education imparted in madrasas “is not comprehensive and is therefore against the provisions of Right to Education Act”, and that textbooks in these institutions teach about the “supremacy of Islam”.
The NCPCR made its submission on September 11 in a clutch of appeals against an Allahabad High Court order of March 22 that had declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 “unconstitutional” on the ground that it violated “the principle of secularism” and fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution.
A Bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Subhash Vidyarthi directed the state government to “take steps forthwith for accommodating the madrasa students in regular schools” recognised under the UP primary and high school and intermediate education boards.
The UP government had submitted “that no doubt the Madrasa Board is providing religious education and instructions to students, but the state has sufficient powers to impart such education under the Constitution and is rightly permitting such education”.
On April 5, a Supreme Court Bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud stayed the High Court’s order.
Madrasa is an Arabic word for an educational institution. In the early centuries of Islam, mosques served also as places of education, but from the 10th century onward, madrasas came to acquire a distinct identity as institutions of religious and secular learning in the Islamic world.
The earliest evidence of madrasas comes from Khorasan and Transoxania, corresponding to modern eastern and northern Iran, central Asia, and Afghanistan. The bigger madrasas also had facilities for housing students, especially those from poor backgrounds.
As of 2018-19, there were 24,010 madrasas in India, 19,132 of which were recognised madrasas, and the remaining 4,878 were unrecognised, then Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told Rajya Sabha on February 3, 2020.
Recognised madrasas come under the state boards for madrasa education; the unrecognised ones follow the curriculum prescribed by the bigger seminaries such as the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama (Lucknow) and Darul Uloom Deoband.
As many as 60% of the country’s madrasas were in Uttar Pradesh — 11,621 recognised, and 2,907 unrecognised madrasas. The second highest number of madrasas were in Rajasthan — 2,464 recognised, and 29 unrecognised madrasas, according to statewise data presented by Naqvi.
Several states and Union Territories, including Delhi, Assam, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana had no recognised madrasas, the data showed.
There are two categories of madrasas in India — Madrasa Darse Nizami, which are run as public charities, and are not bound to follow the school education curriculum of the state; and the Madrasa Darse Aliya, which are affiliated to the state’s madrasa education board (such as the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education).
More than 20 states have their own madrasa boards. State madrasa boards are governed by the state government concerned; teachers and other officials at recognised madrasas are appointed by the state government.
Some 1.69 lakh students sat for the UP madrasa education board examinations — equivalent to Class 10 and Class 12 — in 2023. UP and some other states also have a separate Sanskrit board.
Education is similar to school and higher education. Madrasa students study to be Maulvi (equivalent to Class 10), Alim (equivalent to Class 12), Kamil (Bachelor’s degree), and Fazil (Master’s).
The medium of education in the charitable Madrasa Darse Nizami is Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. The Madrasa Darse Aliya use either textbooks published by the state textbook corporation or agency, or the curriculum and textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
Most madrasa boards in the country now follow the NCERT curriculum. Mathematics, Science, Hindi, English, and Sociology are compulsory subjects. There is also an optional paper, in which students have the choice of studying Sanskrit or Deeniyat (including the Quran and other religious teachings). Hindu religious scriptures and other religious teachings are taught in the Sanskrit optional paper.
The bulk of the funding for madrasas comes from the respective state governments. The central government has a Scheme for Providing Education to Madrasas/ Minorities (SPEMM), under which financial assistance is provided to madrasas and minority institutions across the country.
There are two sub-schemes under SPEMM — a Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM) and Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutes (IDMI). SPEMM was transferred from the Ministry of Minority Affairs to the Ministry of Education in April 2021.
