Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Assam and state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a notification would be issued about the closure of all state-run madrasas in November. He said that about 100 Sanskrit schools in the state would also be closed.
He said, “All the state-run madrasas will be converted into regular schools or in some cases teachers will be shifted to state-run schools and the madrasas will be closed. A notification will be issued in November for this.”
Madrasas are educational institutions where Quran and Islamic law are taught along with mathematics, grammar, poetry and history. According to a report published on educational and research website The Conversation, the Government of India reports that 4 percent of Muslim students study in the country’s madrasas.
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The BJP-led Assam government has decided not to spend money on religious institutions, to convert madrasas into regular schools or to shift teachers to other schools and close them.
Talking to news agency ANI, the minister said, “In my opinion, the teaching of the Quran cannot be done at the cost of government money. If we have to do this then we should also teach both the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita. So we want to bring uniformity and stop this practice.’
According to the State Madrasa Education Board (SMEB), Assam has 614 recognized madrasas. According to the SMEB website, 400 of these are high madrassas, 112 are junior high madrasas and the remaining 102 are senior madrasas. Out of the total recognized madrasas, 57 are for girls, 3 are for boys and 554 are co-educational. 17 madrasas are running through Urdu medium.