Opinion Express View on Supreme Court’s UP Madarsa verdict: A learning matter

In upholding the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the distinctiveness of Indian secularism. The verdict of the CJI DY Chandrachud-led three-judge bench is seminal in a country where a large number of educational institutions are affiliated to religious bodies, including those from minority communities. In a country of many diversities, the court has emphasised the overlaps between the secular and religious. “Merely because an educational institution is run by a minority or even a majority community and professes some of its teachings, does not mean that the teachings in such institutions fall outside the ambit of the term education,” it observed. The Court has held that establishing madarsas is consistent with the constitutional right of minorities to set up educational institutions, while endorsing the need for a law to “regulate the standard of education” they offer. The Bench held that the “Act is consistent with the obligation of the state to ensure that students studying in recognised madarsas attain a level of competency… participate in society and earn a living”.

Framed by the then Samajwadi Party-led government in UP, the state’s Madarsa Act regulates education in institutions where modern disciplines are taught along with Islamic texts. From the outset, questions were asked because the state was seen as violating the constitutional principle of secularism by trying to regulate institutions that impart religious instruction. In March this year, the Allahabad High Court found these arguments valid and struck down the Act. “The government… cannot discriminate by providing education based on religion,” it said. The HC verdict led to apprehensions over the future of lakhs of students studying in madarsas. In striking down this verdict, the SC too underlined the government’s obligation to provide quality education, but also highlighted the crucial role played by the madarsas — it cited UP government data to point out that the 13,364 madarsas in the state provide education to more than 12 lakh students. “While madarsas do provide religious instruction, their primary aim is education,” the Bench said.

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The Court’s insistence on keeping a regulatory vigil on the quality of education in these institutions is also welcome. A growing body of scholarship testifies to the academic competence of madrasas, not just in UP but in several parts of the country. The verdict should put to rest unnecessary and contrived controversy over the character of these institutions.