Concern about education in madrasas has multiple sources, although educational institutions run by religious or linguistic minority groups are constitutionally valid. Whatever the source of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s concern, whether the nature, quality and standard of education or otherwise, Assam’s BJP government converted all state-aided madrasas to general schools and is supposed to be negotiating with thousands of private madrasas to do the same. Recently, the Allahabad High Court quashed the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, saying that it violated secularism and was therefore ‘unconstitutional’. The high court ordered that all students be relocated to general schools. The Supreme Court, however, has imposed an interim stay on the high court’s ruling, stating that the relocation was “prima facie not warranted”. It would affect the education of 17 lakh students apart from rendering uncertain the livelihood of 10,000 teachers. But that would be one result. The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which included the Chief Justice of India, said that the UP law had to do with a regulatory board, not to be confused with madrasa education. The serious area of concern was the standard and quality of education which should be such that madrasa students could compete with all others in open competitive examinations and lead dignified lives.
The compulsory study of ‘modern’ subjects besides languages, such as mathematics, science and the social sciences, would remove doubt and scepticism about madrasa education. Many such schools in different states do have this kind of a comprehensive curriculum where worries about a religion-based education are neutralised by the wide scope of study. Certain schools run by another religious minority are considered extremely desirable, partly for the same reason. It could be argued, also, that turning all madrasas into general schools or relocating their students is unconstitutional because that breaches minority communities’ right to run their own institutions.
At the same time, the attorney general expressed the concern that is also voiced by many regarding the mingling of religion with education. This would be true of all religions though, not of one alone. At a time when religious identity has become a more sensitive issue than it has been for a long time, it is most important to focus on the quality and standard of education in any school, excluding all other considerations.
