Is the Maharashtra government planning to de-recognise all madrasas in the state? Is it going to label all students of Muslim religious schools as being “out of school” ? What will all of this mean for children passing out of these madrasas?
On Thursday, these questions sparked a high-pitched controversy within Maharashtra’s Muslim community as media reports claimed that the state aimed to classify nearly 1.5 lakh madrasa students as “out of school” because they are not given a formal education.
The Maharashtra government’s education department plans to conduct a massive survey of all children in the state on Saturday to determine how many are enrolled in schools and how many aren't. According to the Times of India, the decision to consider madrasa children as “out of school” came from the department of minority affairs, which had sent a letter to the education department in May asking it to conduct the survey accordingly.
Later on Thursday, state minorities minister Eknath Khadse declared that madrasas would be considered “non-schools” if they did not teach subjects like maths, science and English along with religious education.
As headlines began to claim that Maharashtra’s madrasas were set to be de-recognised, Muslims reacted with indignation and outrage. “The label ‘out of school’ will imply that our children are illiterate – how can the government say that just because we have our own curriculum?” said Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, general secretary of the All-India Ulema Council.
Political parties in the opposition also jumped into the fray, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi accusing the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government of targeting Muslims and disturbing the peace.
Internal confusion
Much of the furore and confusion on July 2 was compounded by the fact that the two key departments of the Maharashtra government – education and minority affairs – contradicted each other in their reactions to the controversy.
At the minority affairs department, the focus was on clearing misunderstandings about the “out of school” tag. “The label does not mean that madrasa children will be considered illiterate – that is an unnecessary misinterpretation,” said Ainul Attar, a joint secretary in the minority affairs department.
The purpose of classifying madrasa students under that label, Attar specified, was to encourage more madrasas to impart secular education and apply for grants under the state’s Dr Zakir Husain madrasa modernisation scheme. It was launched in 2013. So far, 550 of the 1,890 registered madrasas in the state have been given grants.
“Madrasas are not schools because a formal school is one that is recognised by the government and affiliated to a government education board,” said Attar. “We give grants only to those madrasas that teach maths, science, English and social sciences. That is the whole point of the Dr Zakir Husain scheme.”
When contacted, however, state education minister Vinod Tawde’s office completely denied all the talk of labelling madrasa students. “No child from any madrasa is going to be labelled ‘out of school’ – how is that even possible?” said Govind Yetayekar, spokesperson for the minister. Since madrasas have never been recognised as formal schools in the first place, there is no question of de-recognising them.
“We are not de-recognising any madrasas and we are not asking them to stop teaching religious subjects,” said Yetayekar. “But under the RTE, it is compulsory for schools to teach all major subjects, which madrasas also must teach if they want government aid.”
So what exactly do madrasas teach?
The modernisation of madrasas is a recurrent subject of debate across India both within and outside the Muslim community. The primary function of madrasas is to impart in-depth religious education, but they have repeatedly come under fire for depriving children of an exposure to mainstream, secular education.
However, madrasas are not homogenous entities, and many claim that they do provide children with secular education even without being affiliated to government education boards.
“Mainstream madrasas like ours teach students all mainstream subjects alongside religious subjects,” said Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi, director of Markazul Ma’arif, an educational organisation that runs 21 madrasas and 21 colleges in Maharashtra, Assam and West Bengal. “Many of our students have gone on to get their Masters and PhDs from top Indian universities.”
By “mainstream madrasas”, Qasmi refers to the religious schools that are affiliated to the official madrasa boards, whose certificates are recognised at institutes such as Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Lucknow University and a few others around the country (though none in Maharashtra).
Among the Sunni sects of North India, the madrasa boards give certificates to students who pass the levels of munshi molavi, aalim, kaamil and faazil – which these universities recognise as the equivalent of Class 10, Class 12, BA and MA respectively. These degrees are given at madrasas for both boys and girls, although girls rarely study at universities beyond the madrasa.
“Students passing out from these madrasas can study any subject in humanities or commerce at university if they appear for a Class 12-level English exam,” said Qasmi. “We are also trying to establish English-medium madrasas where students can take up science if they wish to.”
The other side
But concerns about madrasas imparting a very limited form of education are not unfounded. There is a very large number of independent madrasas – not affiliated to any madrasa board – where the presence of secular curriculum is negligible or completely absent.
“At my madrasa, we teach English, Hindi and computers, but not math and science,” said Maulana Sayyed Athar Ali, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board who runs the Darul Uloom Mohammadiya madrasa in Mumbai. “We can’t teach all subjects as per the government syllabus because our own curriculum is very heavy, with subjects like Arabic and Persian literature.”
Ali’s madrasa is among the 1,890 ones registered with the Charity Commissioner in Maharashtra, but he estimates that the state has a total of more than 5,000 madrasas, most of them independent and unregistered.
Arshad Alam, a sociology professor at JNU and author of Inside a Madrasa: Knowledge, Power and Islamic Identity in India said that the number of independent madrasas is much larger and that most of these do not teach mainstream subjects. "In general, I don't think madrasa students are fully equipped to compete in the outer world, even if they come from mainstream madrasas,” Alam said.
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On Thursday, these questions sparked a high-pitched controversy within Maharashtra’s Muslim community as media reports claimed that the state aimed to classify nearly 1.5 lakh madrasa students as “out of school” because they are not given a formal education.
The Maharashtra government’s education department plans to conduct a massive survey of all children in the state on Saturday to determine how many are enrolled in schools and how many aren't. According to the Times of India, the decision to consider madrasa children as “out of school” came from the department of minority affairs, which had sent a letter to the education department in May asking it to conduct the survey accordingly.
Later on Thursday, state minorities minister Eknath Khadse declared that madrasas would be considered “non-schools” if they did not teach subjects like maths, science and English along with religious education.
As headlines began to claim that Maharashtra’s madrasas were set to be de-recognised, Muslims reacted with indignation and outrage. “The label ‘out of school’ will imply that our children are illiterate – how can the government say that just because we have our own curriculum?” said Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, general secretary of the All-India Ulema Council.
Political parties in the opposition also jumped into the fray, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi accusing the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government of targeting Muslims and disturbing the peace.
Internal confusion
Much of the furore and confusion on July 2 was compounded by the fact that the two key departments of the Maharashtra government – education and minority affairs – contradicted each other in their reactions to the controversy.
At the minority affairs department, the focus was on clearing misunderstandings about the “out of school” tag. “The label does not mean that madrasa children will be considered illiterate – that is an unnecessary misinterpretation,” said Ainul Attar, a joint secretary in the minority affairs department.
The purpose of classifying madrasa students under that label, Attar specified, was to encourage more madrasas to impart secular education and apply for grants under the state’s Dr Zakir Husain madrasa modernisation scheme. It was launched in 2013. So far, 550 of the 1,890 registered madrasas in the state have been given grants.
“Madrasas are not schools because a formal school is one that is recognised by the government and affiliated to a government education board,” said Attar. “We give grants only to those madrasas that teach maths, science, English and social sciences. That is the whole point of the Dr Zakir Husain scheme.”
When contacted, however, state education minister Vinod Tawde’s office completely denied all the talk of labelling madrasa students. “No child from any madrasa is going to be labelled ‘out of school’ – how is that even possible?” said Govind Yetayekar, spokesperson for the minister. Since madrasas have never been recognised as formal schools in the first place, there is no question of de-recognising them.
“We are not de-recognising any madrasas and we are not asking them to stop teaching religious subjects,” said Yetayekar. “But under the RTE, it is compulsory for schools to teach all major subjects, which madrasas also must teach if they want government aid.”
So what exactly do madrasas teach?
The modernisation of madrasas is a recurrent subject of debate across India both within and outside the Muslim community. The primary function of madrasas is to impart in-depth religious education, but they have repeatedly come under fire for depriving children of an exposure to mainstream, secular education.
However, madrasas are not homogenous entities, and many claim that they do provide children with secular education even without being affiliated to government education boards.
“Mainstream madrasas like ours teach students all mainstream subjects alongside religious subjects,” said Maulana Burhanuddin Qasmi, director of Markazul Ma’arif, an educational organisation that runs 21 madrasas and 21 colleges in Maharashtra, Assam and West Bengal. “Many of our students have gone on to get their Masters and PhDs from top Indian universities.”
By “mainstream madrasas”, Qasmi refers to the religious schools that are affiliated to the official madrasa boards, whose certificates are recognised at institutes such as Aligarh Muslim University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Lucknow University and a few others around the country (though none in Maharashtra).
Among the Sunni sects of North India, the madrasa boards give certificates to students who pass the levels of munshi molavi, aalim, kaamil and faazil – which these universities recognise as the equivalent of Class 10, Class 12, BA and MA respectively. These degrees are given at madrasas for both boys and girls, although girls rarely study at universities beyond the madrasa.
“Students passing out from these madrasas can study any subject in humanities or commerce at university if they appear for a Class 12-level English exam,” said Qasmi. “We are also trying to establish English-medium madrasas where students can take up science if they wish to.”
The other side
But concerns about madrasas imparting a very limited form of education are not unfounded. There is a very large number of independent madrasas – not affiliated to any madrasa board – where the presence of secular curriculum is negligible or completely absent.
“At my madrasa, we teach English, Hindi and computers, but not math and science,” said Maulana Sayyed Athar Ali, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board who runs the Darul Uloom Mohammadiya madrasa in Mumbai. “We can’t teach all subjects as per the government syllabus because our own curriculum is very heavy, with subjects like Arabic and Persian literature.”
Ali’s madrasa is among the 1,890 ones registered with the Charity Commissioner in Maharashtra, but he estimates that the state has a total of more than 5,000 madrasas, most of them independent and unregistered.
Arshad Alam, a sociology professor at JNU and author of Inside a Madrasa: Knowledge, Power and Islamic Identity in India said that the number of independent madrasas is much larger and that most of these do not teach mainstream subjects. "In general, I don't think madrasa students are fully equipped to compete in the outer world, even if they come from mainstream madrasas,” Alam said.