Assam: Govt-run madrassas to shut soon; bill to repeal madrassa education act to be introduced today

28-12-2020

Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will on Monday introduce a bill to repeal the Assam Madrassas Education (Provincialisation) Act of 1995. Notably, the three-day Winter Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly begins today. Talking to the media ahead of the commencement of the Winter Session, the Assam minister said that once the bill is passed, the practice of running madrassa by the state government will come to an end. The practice was initiated by the Muslim League government in pre-Independence Assam, added Sarma. In October, Sarma had announced that the Madrasa Board in Assam would be dissolved and all state-run madrasas would be turned into general schools. He had further clarified that the government does not intend to shut down the private madrasas. Sarma, who also holds the Finance and Health portfolios, had also announced that the Assam government would also close down the Sanskrit tols (schools). As per Himanta Biswa Sarma, the decision of the government was based on research on madrasas. "A survey conducted by a Gauhati University professor, who happens to be a Muslim, found that the parents and guardians of most of the students of the madrasas are not aware of the fact that their children are not taught the regular subjects but are imparted lessons mostly in theology." �The government-run madrasas in Assam would either be converted into regular schools or they would be closed down. Teachers would be transferred to general schools after issuance of a government notification next month," Sarma had further told the media on October 17. "In order to bring uniformity, teaching the Quran at the cost of government exchequer could not be allowed to continue," he had added. The Assam Cabinet, in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, had on December 15 gave its go-ahead to the proposal of shutting down all government-run madrassas and Sanskrit tols (schools).