The Uttarakhand Governor, Lt General Gurmit Singh (retd), has given his assent to the State Authority for Minority Education (USAME) Act, 2025, passed in the Assembly in August amid uproar by the Opposition. The Act, which comes on the heels of a crackdown on hundreds of “illegal” madrasas in the state, does away with the Madrasa Board and brings madrasas, as well as education institutions run by Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, under the newly established USAME. The USAME Board will comprise 12 members — a chairperson, six academics from the six minority religions, a retired civil servant of the rank of secretary, a social worker, and three ex officio members: the Director General of School Education, the Director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training, and the Director of the Minority Welfare Department. The board will meet at least once a quarter, and decisions will be made through voting. The Madrasa Board, which will cease to exist from July 2026, comprised 13 members, nine of whom were Muslims or belonged to Muslim institutions. Once the new law is implemented, any educational institution run by a minority community and imparting religious education will have to be recognised by the USAME. Recognition will be granted for three academic sessions at a time. Clause (h) of section 14 of the Act states that “the minority educational institution shall not compel its students or employees to take part in any of its religious activities”. Clause (i) mandates that the minority institution appoint teachers as per qualifications laid down by the board, and clause (j) states that the rules of the Board and the USAME will apply to the institutions “in all academic, administrative, and financial matters”. Clause (k) states that “the minority educational institution shall not do anything which may come in the way of communal and social harmony”. Under the Act, recognition of institutions can be cancelled if misutilisation of funds or “violation” of any of the stipulations contained in Section 14 is found. The curricula for these institutions will be developed by a sub-committee of the board, which will be further vetted by the Board of School Education. Previously, the curricula for madrasas were set by the Madrasa Board. After the Governor’s nod, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami thanked him. “With the approval of the Honourable Governor, the path for this Bill to become law has been paved. Under this law, an authority will be established to administer the education system for minority communities, which will grant recognition to minority educational institutions. Furthermore, after the Bill's implementation, minority educational institutions such as madrasas will be required to obtain accreditation from the Uttarakhand Education Board. Certainly, this law will prove helpful in making the education system in the state more transparent, accountable and quality-oriented,” he said in a post on X. Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind state secretary Khurshid Ahmed said the outfit will challenge the legislation on the grounds that religious education cannot be interfered with. “The government has said they will set the syllabus after the Education Department vets it. If school education is implemented, what will happen to religious education for students? There is little clarity on many matters. We will move the court along with other Muslim bodies in the state,” he said.
