UP to open two universities, affiliate madrassas to them: Minority minister Om Prakash Rajbhar

LUCKNOW: Seeking to make changes in the process of granting recognition to madrassas, Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that two universities will be opened in the state and all madrassas will be affiliated to them. "Our effort is to open two universities. We want to attach the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education with the university and all madrassas should be recognised (by the university) so that there is no dispute in the future," he told PTI Videos recently.

He noted that many colleges are affiliated to the Lucknow University, Purvanchal University and Shakuntala University. If madrassas were operated under universities, things would have been different. At present, madrassas in the state are recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education.

Citing a letter by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) dated June 7, then Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra on June 26 had issued directions to all district magistrates on children studying in madrassas. In its letter, the NCPCR had directed that all non-Muslim students studying in government-funded madrassas be admitted to schools of the Basic Education Council to provide them with formal education. It also said that all children studying in all such madrassas of the state, which are not recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, should also be given admission in Basic Education Council schools.

Uttar Pradesh has approximately 25,000 madrassas. Of these; 16,500 madrassas are government-recognised, including 560 government-aided madrassas. Around 8,500 madrassas are not recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education. Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's legal advisor Maulana Kaab Rashidi said the government should talk to all stakeholders, including Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Nadwatul Ulama and Darul Uloom Deoband, before making changes in the system. He said the Constitution has given the right to minorities to establish and run their educational institutions. In the system the state government is going to make, special care should be taken to ensure that the constitutional rights of minorities are protected.

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Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Iftikhar Ahmed Javed on Sunday said the state government is going to take such a big step regarding madrassas but the board has no information about this. "It has never been seen or heard before that any education board will be affiliated to a university," he said. However, he said the government has the power to bring about radical changes in the system, but before issuing the order to admit children of unrecognised madrassas in council (state-run) schools, consideration should have been given to giving recognition to such madrasas from the board.