Child rights body tells SC madrasas unfit for ‘proper education’

New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights informed the Supreme Court that madrasas are "unsuitable or unfit" settings for children to get "proper education," Live Law reported.

The child rights organisation further asserted that madrasas were not recognised by the Right to Education Act as "schools.”

“A madrasa is not only an unsuitable or unfit place to receive ‘proper’ education but also in absence of entitlements as provided under…the Right to Education Act,” the agency told the court.

This was in response to an appeal contesting the March 22 ruling of the Allahabad High Court that declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 to be unconstitutional. The functioning of madrasas in the state was governed by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act. The act was overturned because it went against the fundamental rights and secular principles of the Constitution.

Additionally, the Supreme Court stayed the High Court's order to transfer madrasa students to formal schools in April. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led a three-judge bench on Wednesday, announcing that the petitions would be heard in detail shortly.

The child rights body claimed in its affidavit that the Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Education Board and its counterparts in other states did not have standardised curricula and that the madrasa model of education is insufficient, Scroll.in reported.

Additionally, it stated that madrasas lack regulatory committees as they are not subject to the Right to Education Act, "because of which the parents are deprived of information regarding the progress of their children."

The body stated that students attending madrasas are not provided with the same resources as students attending regular schools, including lunch, uniforms, and qualified teachers.

“Merely teaching a few NCERT [National Council of Educational Research and Training] books in the curriculum is a mere guise in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education,” the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said, according to The Hindu.

It also said that textbooks taught in madrasas “profess supremacy of Islam”.

The commission further stated that children who were not Muslims were being educated in madrasas located in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Article 28 of the Constitution, which prohibits compulsion to engage in religious teaching or worship, was allegedly violated by offering Islamic religious education to non-Muslims.

The most well-known madrasa in India, Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was also mentioned by the child rights body. According to the report, the institute's influence resulted in the construction of other madrasas throughout South Asia, especially near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“It has also been alleged by Taliban extremists groups to have been influenced by the religious and political ideologies of Darul Uloom Deoband Madrasa…the Deoband Madrasa issues fatwas online as well as offline and have a very strict and conservative interpretation of Sharia, as evidenced by its issuance of roughly 2,50,000 fatwas which restrict followers in terms of faith, life, and many other aspects,” the child right’s body said.