Is it the beginning of end of ‘Madrassa’ education in the country?
Is it the beginning of end of ‘Madrassa’ education in the country?
S.M.A. KAZMI
Dehradun, July 3
With the abolition of Madarassa Board by BJP government in Uttarakhand and replacing it with Uttarakhand State Minority Authority, is it the beginning of the end of Madrassa education in the country under the present ruling RSS/BJP dispensation. The Madrassa board in Uttarakhand has been abolished from June 30, 2026 and a new Minorities Education Authority will be the regulatory authorities of minority education in the state.
Although, the nomenclature of Uttarakhand State Minority Authority has been camouflaged covering all the minorities except Hindu majority, practically it is aimed at strangling religious education being imparted to Muslims through the Madrassa education system.
The ‘Jamait-Ulema -a Hind’, a body of clerics along with some Madrassa owners have gone to Nainital High Court against the abolition of Madrassa board and next date of hearing is July 8.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami inaugurating the Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority on July 1 said that ‘DevBhoomi’ (Abdode of Gods) Uttarakhand has taken a lead in minority education to provide quality, modern, and cultured education to all sections of society.
It is feared that the same template would be adopted by other BJP ruled states to abolish Madrassa education system in their respective states in the coming days and years. It would be on the lines of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) which was first implemented by Uttarakhand and later adopted by Gujarat, Assam and now West Bengal. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, is the hero of the RSS Hindutva brigade and pioneered in inventing several forms of ‘Jehads” starting with ‘Land Jehad’, ‘Love jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad’, ‘Thook Jehad’ and ‘Nakal Jehad’. He himself personally had been leading a ‘Jehad’ against Madrassas, Mazars and Masjids in the state in the past five years. Vilifying the Madrassas of spreading bigotry and Islamic fundamentalism, he had closed more than 200 madrassas and bulldozed more than 600 mazars through the state.
The Mazars have been demolished on the grounds of being illegal and being encroachment on government land. However, there is no account of Hindu temples and shrines on government and forest land. Several mosques in the state have also been closed on one pretext or other. While aggressive Hindutva groups are targeting Muslims almost one daily basis on some pretext or other, the state BJP government has adopted the legal method to target the community.
The Muslim community which is at the receiving end of ire of ‘Sangh Parivar’ led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami believe that the new legislation is aimed at targeting the Muslim ‘Madrassas’ as part of vilification of the community. They are of the opinion that the new law is a clear violation of constitutional guarantee to the minorities to run and manage their educational institutions.
“ We have approached the Nainital High Court and hoping and awaiting for a fair judgement to seek our constitutional rights,” said Fazlur Rehman, spokesman of the Jamiat. Already, ‘Jamait’ had been fighting legal cases against Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and sealing of Madrassas.
As per the new law, Uttarakhand Madrasa Education Board Act 2016 and the Uttarakhand Non-Government Arabic and Persian Madrasa Recognition Rules 2019 stand repealed from July 1, 2026. As per the new legislation, Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority will be established to grant minority educational institution status. Any educational institution established by the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, or Parsi community will be required to obtain recognition from the authority to qualify for minority educational institution status.
Hafiz Shanazar, a spokesperson of the Uttarakhand unit of ‘Jamait-e-Ulema-e-Hind’ said that the law was part of the strategy to target Muslims and their educational Institutions. “ The law is aimed at hitting the Muslims and ‘Madrassas’ as part of vilification campaign of BJP like ‘ Love Jehad’, ‘Mazar Jehad, ‘Land Jehad’, ‘Thook Jehad’ and the recent ‘Nakal Jehad’,” he added.
The law proposes that the proposed Authority will ensure that education is imparted in accordance with the standards set by the Board of School Education, Uttarakhand. There are 465 Madrassas in Uttarakhand state which were affiliated with Madrassa board. Nearly a hundred Madrassas are also affiliated with the education department running regular classes along with religious education of Quran and Urdu.
Interestingly, most of the Madrassas were running schools and teaching NCERT books but the Chief Minister Dhami and the plaint media has been giving an impression that Madrassas are imparting something ‘objectionable’ education which needed to be brought under control and streamlined. The Uttarakhand Madrassa Board was formed during the BJP Chief Minister B.C.Khanduri’s regime in 2012.
“Apart from teaching Holy Quran, we are having regular classes up to class 12 affiliated with Uttarakhand Education Board having NCERT books,” said Maulana Sharfat who is running a ‘Madrassa’ in Jeewangarh area near Vikasnagar town of Dehradun district.
“There are few ‘Madrassas’ which impart purely religious education and they are affiliated with Darul Uloom, Deoband. The repealing of Uttarakhand Non-Government Arabic and Persian Madrasa Recognition Rules 2019 is also a big blow for education of Arabic and Persian languagesin the state,” claimed Hafiz Shahnazar
The Muslims form the biggest minority group in the state with 13.95 per cent population as per state government data followed by Sikhs with 2.34 per cent population as per 2011 census. The Christians are 0.37 percent, Buddhists – 0.15 per cent and Jains-0.09 percent of the total population.
Butt surprisingly, except Muslims none of the minority communities having their large educational institutions have raised a voice against the law. Apparently, the other minorities presumes that the new law is aimed at targeting the Muslims and ‘Maadrassas’ only.
The new law said that the proposed Authority will ensure that education is imparted in accordance with the standards set by the Board of School Education, Uttarakhand. A simple understanding says that all minority run educational institutions would have to adhere to the Board of School Education, Uttarakhand.
But in Dehradun and Mussoorie, there are old Christian missionary educational institutions which are affiliated to different board like ICSE , CBSE and even International Baccalaureate. Would all these schools be asked to adhere to Uttarakhand School Board curriculum like ‘Madrassas’.
Most of the ministers, bureaucrats and business have their children studying in all these Christian run schools. “ Do the BJP government dare to implement it’s ‘agenda’ in these schools ?,” asked Hafiz Shah Nazar
Another interesting aspect of the new authority as explained by Secretary Minority Welfare Dr. Prag Madhukar Dhakate was that minorities would be free to impart religious education but with a rider. The first half of the day would be devoted to general studies like Maths, Science, English, Hindi and Social Sciences while the students would be free to get lessons in religious studies. Meaning thereby that after studying for six hours, the students of Madrassas would again study for six years. Nobody dared to ask him would it be humanly possible for young students to study for so long in a day.?
“ The Madrassas under Madrassa Board were teaching general subjects along with religious education but it was propaganda by RSS/ BJP that ‘anti-national’ things were being taught,” said Khurshed Ahmed Siddiqui, a social worker of Dehradun.
Another aspect which has further worried Muslim community is a clause in the Uttarakhand State Minority Authority Act is that no educational will force it’s students to indulge in any religious activity. “ This clearly shows that Muslims would not adhere to their religious practices in Madrassas any more. The Madrassas are training young Muslims to teach Islam and it’s basic tenets which included ‘Namaz’ (prayers) and Roza (fasting). So no onwards, Muslims students would not offer prayers in their Madrassas as most of these madrassas have Mosques attached. They would not be allowed to wear skull caps,” said Maulana Sharafat of Jeewangarh Madrassa in Vikasnagar tehsil of Dehradun.
These ‘Madrassas’ affiliated with the Madrassa Board used to get some benefits given by central government schemes started by Manmoham Singh Government which had since stopped after the advent of BJP government in 2017 in the state.
The first scheme was to give money for infrastructure development by Government of India. However, none of the ‘Madrassas’ in Uttarakhand was given money on this count. The second scheme relates to providing grant to teachers by the central government. A B.ed teacher was to get Rs.12,000 and a graduate teacher Rs.6,000 per month as honorarium to improve the standard of ‘Madrassa’ education and encourage them to teach English, Science and Mathematics. The amount was not salary but was to be paid once in a year. The honorarium of 565 such teachers from 187 ‘Madrassas’ was not been paid since 2017 and the central government scheme was stopped and renamed.
The Uttarakhand BJP government has been targetting madrassas for the past several years, Principal Secretary of the Minority Welfare Department, L Fanai, in a letter dated 23 December 2024, had ordered all the District Magistrates to constitute a high-level investigation committee at the district level to investigate the Madrasas running without registration.
