Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The Supreme Court gave a big and good decision regarding the Madarsa Board Act of Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court canceled the decision of the Allahabad High Court in which the High Court had declared the Madrasa Act of UP unconstitutional. The Supreme Court said that the Madrassa Board Act does not violate any provision of the Constitution. This means that there is no longer any threat to the running of madrassas. The Supreme Court has also said in its decision that the government cannot interfere in the management of madrasas, but the government should make rules on what should be taught in madrasas, how to improve the level of education, how children should get good facilities in madrasas. Can. The Supreme Court has also made it clear that non-Muslim children studying in madrassas cannot be forced to read Islamic literature and follow Islamic customs. Also, the Supreme Court declared the graduation and post graduation degrees awarded in madrasas illegal.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the state government can set conditions for providing good quality education to madrassas for recognition and financial assistance to them. The state government can decide the courses, qualification level of teachers and degree criteria of madrassas. The state government has full authority to make rules for appointment of teachers, health of children and facilities like cleanliness and library in madrassas. The Supreme Court also said that the Madrasa Board cannot give degrees to Fazil and Kamil as it is against the UGC Act. Madrassas have the right to grant degrees only up to Alim. The degree of Alim is considered equivalent to passing 12th class, on the basis of which one gets admission in colleges and universities. The Supreme Court said that the Fazil and Kamil degrees given by madrassas for graduation and post-graduation have no recognition and for this the madrassas will first have to take permission from the UGC. The decision of the Supreme Court has been welcomed by almost all the big Muslim organizations. Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and All India Shia Personal Law Board said that the Supreme Court has corrected the mistake of the High Court.
There are 16 thousand 500 madrassas running in UP. More than 17 lakh children study in these. After becoming the Chief Minister in 2017, Yogi Adityanath started efforts to modernize madrassas. Madrasa portal was created, where all the madrasas of UP had to register themselves. The result was that more than five thousand madrasas running illegally were closed. Webcams were installed in madrassas to prevent children from cheating. A survey of unrecognized madrassas was conducted. The Yogi government provides assistance to 558 such madrasas which sought government assistance. The salaries of teachers and staff are given to these madrassas by the government. Children get NCERT books and mid-day meal. There were two types of issues regarding madrassas. One, the state governments felt that modern education was not imparted in madrassas, where more emphasis was given only on the study of Islamic texts. On the other hand, those running madrassas felt that the governments wanted to take over madrassas and interfere in their functioning. The Supreme Court answered both.
Governments will not be able to interfere in the management of Madrasas, but they can decide what should be taught in Madrasas, what should be the curriculum, what should be the subjects. This decision should be welcomed. Those running madrassas should use this opportunity to introduce modern education so that the children studying in madrassas can later get admission in good colleges, become doctors, engineers, lawyers and IT professionals. On the other hand, this propaganda that terrorists are trained in madrassas should end. All madrassas should not be defamed by giving examples of madrassas of some Maulana or Maulvi at two or four places. The sad thing is that political parties found a political issue in this also. This was limited to the salaries of the teachers teaching in madrassas, whereas the real need is to improve the education system of madrassas, the qualification of the teachers teaching there and the facilities like libraries in madrassas. Everyone should try this together. (Rajat Sharma)
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