SC stays order against Uttar Pradesh madrasa law: A look at madrasa education in the state

Here is a look at the Allahabad High Court order, how many madrasas operate in Uttar Pradesh, why they have been under the spotlight in recent years, and why teachers in many of these madrasas haven’t gotten their salary

What did the High Court order say?

In its order, the High Court held the Act unconstitutional on the ground that it violated “the principle of secularism” and fundamental rights provided under Article 14 of the Constitution.

The court went through the madrasa syllabi and said the law is “violative of Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956”, as madrasa students are only required to study Islam and its doctrines to progress to the next class. Modern subjects such as Hindi, English, maths, science, and social sciences are either included or offered as optional, and students have the choice to study just one optional subject, the court observed.

How many madrasas operate in UP?

There are a total of 16,513 recognised and 8,449 unrecognised madrasas in the state, catering to approximately 27 lakh students. Out of the 16,513 recognised madrasas, 558 are fully funded by the state government — these madrasas employ around 9,000 teachers. The rest of the recognised madrasas are government-aided, privately-run madrasas.

The Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Act was enacted in 2004 and the board was formed in 2007. However, the rules guiding the madrasa board were enacted in 2017, after Yogi Adityanath came to power. These rules were made with a focus on checking “irregularities” in the madrasas functioning in the state.

Why are UP madrasas under the spotlight?

Since then, madrasas in UP have frequently made headlines. They were in the news in 2022, when the UP government, following a request by the madrasa board, issued directions to district magistrates to conduct a survey of unrecognised madrasas across the state. The board’s request came after several complaints of alleged misconduct against students from several districts.

However, the order was met with stinging criticism from various Muslim organisations. A two-month-long survey found that 8,449 madrasas across the state weren’t recognised by the board, with the highest number of such madrasas in Moradabad district.

There have also been suspicions of foreign funding and terror activities in the madrasas of UP. Last year, the government formed a three-member special investigations team (SIT), led by an Additional Director General-rank officer, to probe into overseas funds received by all 16,000 recognised, privately funded and state-aided madrasas in the state.

The two other members of the SIT were the director of the Minority Welfare Department and the state Superintendent of Police (Cyber Cell). Sources said that during the probe, the SIT was also asked to check if such foreign funds were used for any illegal activities, including terrorism, religious conversion, etc.

The SIT was formed months after the state government, in January 2023, instructed district magistrates in areas bordering Nepal to investigate sources of funding for unrecognised madrasas that had declared zakat (charity money) and donations as their primary sources of funds.

That effectively left only the around 550 state-government-funded madrasas outside the ambit of the SIT probe. The SIT has recently submitted its detailed report to the government, which has not been made public.

Why are some madrasa teachers not getting salaries?

Under the Centre’s Madrasa Modernisation Scheme that has been running since 1993-94, the state’s recognised, privately-run and government-aided madrasas began employing 2-3 instructors each to teach modern subjects.

Under the scheme, graduate teachers would receive Rs 6,000 monthly, while postgraduates would earn Rs 12,000. Their salaries were to be paid by the Centre and the state at a ratio of 60:40. Allegedly, the Centre stopped paying these ‘modern teachers’ their salaries in 2016, triggering a clause whereby the state government also stopped paying its share of the salaries.

At the time, these teachers complained that the disbursal of their salaries had been “irregular” for a long time. The then Akhilesh Yadav-led state government launched an ad-hoc initiative of paying them ‘additional money’ of Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 for graduates and postgraduates, respectively, on which the ‘modern teachers’ had been reliant since 2016.

Not every recognised privately run madrasa offers ‘modern subjects’ as optional. Only 7,442 registered, privately-run madrasas catering to over 10 lakh students in the state, do so. There are over 21,000 ‘modern teachers’ posted across these, of whom around 8,000 belong to the Hindu community.

In January 2024, the state government discontinued the payment of honorariums or ‘additional money’ to ‘modern teachers’, declaring that the Centre had ended the Madrasa Modernisation Scheme that has been running since 1993-94, without mentioning the date from which the scheme had been ended by the Centre.

Although the recognised, privately-run madrasas continue to run, they now only offer instruction in Islamic studies and associated languages. With the stoppage of disbursal of even the ‘additional money’, the ‘modern teachers’ launched demonstrations in January under the banner of Madrasa Adhunikaran Shikshak Ekta Samiti (Madrasa Modernisation Teachers Union Association) at Lucknow’s Eco Garden, demanding at least their overdue salaries since 2016.

Ashraf Ali, president of the Madrasa Adhunikikaran Shikshak Ekta Samiti said, “We only ended our protest after two months when the (electoral) Model Code of Conduct came into force. Moreover, we were assured by the government that it would look into our demands.”