Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday announced that the state government will close down all the Government-run Madrassas in Assam because they cannot allow religious education with public money.
Come November, government-aided madrasas and Sanskrit schools (‘tol’) in Assam will no longer function as before. The state will issue notification regarding the closure of the Madrassas in November.
“No religious educational institutes will be allowed to function with government funds. We will bring out a notification in November to this effect,” Dr. Sarma stated.
However, privately funded Madrassas will be able to operate on their own.
The state will also issue a separate notification that will decide the fate of Sanskrit ‘Tols’.
Sarma further justified the fact that it is not the job of a secular country to teach religion, scriptures, and languages be it Arabic or Sanskrit.
The government’s decision has not gone down well with the leaders and the organizations representing the minority population.
Following Sarma’s announcement, a row of squabble has erupted between Sarma and AIUDF supremo Badruddin Ajmal.
Fazed by Sarma’s announcement, Ajmal optimistically declared that once his party comes to power in the Assembly elections next year, they are going to overturn the present government’s decision
“BJP-led state government can close down the government-run Madrassas, but my party will re-open them again after we come to power in the Assembly elections next year.” the AIUDF supremo said while talking to the media.
He also stated that the government just cannot shut down Madrassas. “We will take a cabinet decision to re-open then if the present government closes them forcibly,” he stated.
Currently, there are 614 government madrassas functioning in Assam and about 900 private madrassas, almost all of which are run by Jamiat Ulama,. The government spends about Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore on madrassas in the state.
