Assam passes Bill to turn state-run Madrassas into regular schools

Guwahati, Dec 31: Abolishing all state-run Madrassas and transforming them into regular schools, the Assam government has passed the bill called the Assam Repealing Bill, 2020. This bill will come into effect from April 1, 2021. Madrassas is a type of educational institution that teaches the religion of Islam.

The bill will abolish two existing acts namely, the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialism) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialism of Services of Employees and Reorganization of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018. There will be no change in allowances, change of status, or service conditions of the teaching and non-teaching staff.

 

 

Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed his happiness over the passage of the bill and said that all Madrassas being run under the government stand converted into regular educational institutes with effect on April 1, 2021. "Glad that the Bill pertaining to repeal of Provincialisation of Madrassas has been passed, even as Assam Congress and AIUDF expectedly staged a walkout in Assembly. All Madrassas, being run under government, stand converted into regular educational institutes w.e.f April 1, 2021," Sarma tweeted.

 

 

Sarma on Monday, the first day of the Assam Legislative Assembly session, tabled a Bill to repeal the provincialisation of Madrassas in the state. "We have introduced a Bill whereby all Madrassas will be converted into institutes of general education and no Madrassa will be established by the government in the future. We are happy to introduce this Bill to bring truly secular curriculum in the education system," Sarma had told reporters after the bill was tabled in the assembly.

 

On December 14, Sarma had said that in order to facilitate a secular education system in Assam, the state government has decided to make 'education secular' and 198 high madrasas and 542 other madrasas in the state will operate as any other general educational institute and will not give admission to students for theological studies.

 

There are 610 state-run Madrassas in Assam. According to the survey conducted by a Guwahati University Professor, it was founded that the parents and guardians of most of the students of Madrassas are not aware that the children are not taught regular subjects in Madrassas.

 

Rather they have imparted lessons of theology. Therefore, it is essential to convert the Madrassas into regular schools that provide primary and secondary education.

 

Madrassas are educational institutions that teach the religion of Islam and thus imparts only religious education. The first network of Madrassas was built in Iran, Khorasan, and Mesopotamia by Nizam-al-Mulk. The Madrassas mainly teach the holy book of Muslims; 'The Holy Quran'.

 

In 2015, the Maharashtra Government had faced wide criticism for derecognizing Madrassas. The Maharashtra State Govt too had brought up the same reason that Madrassas provide the students' education merely based on religion without imparting formal education of fundamental subjects such as Maths, English, and Science.