UP officials to probe educational qualifications of teachers, facilities in state-funded madrassas

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has directed officials to look into the educational qualifications of teachers and other staff and the status of basic facilities available in all state-funded madrassas.

Expressing his displeasure against the order, Ifthikar Ahmad Javed, Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board, said such inquiries have become a "routine process", causing disruptions in the educational activities and functioning of these educational institutions. "There is no objection to the probe, but it should be done properly once so that in future the work in madrassas can be focused," he said.

The Director of the Minority Welfare Department, J Reebha, in a letter sent on December 1, directed all divisional deputy directors and all district minority welfare officers to ensure the availability of fundamental facilities and competent teachers in Madrasas to ensure quality education for the enrolled students. The letter emphasised the need to develop exploratory, interesting, and scientific perspectives in students and to integrate them into the mainstream. To ensure this, the letter said, there should be a probe into madrassa buildings, basic facilities available there and also the educational records of teaching and non-teaching staff of state-aided madrassas.

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The letter instructed that the report be submitted to the Registrar of the Madrasa Education Board by completing the probe by December 30. At present, approximately 25,000 recognised and unrecognised madrassas are operational in Uttar Pradesh, out of which 560 receive grants from the state government. The letter also stated that there is still a lack of fundamental facilities in the madrassas in the state, and the students studying there are not receiving quality, scientific and modern education, resulting in a lack of suitable employment opportunities for the students.

For conducting the probe, a committee has been formed consisting of the District Minority Welfare Officer and the District Magistrate. In addition, in districts where there are more than 20 madrassas that receive grants from the state government, an additional committee will be formed for speedy completion of this task.

When asked about it, UP Madrasa Education Board Chairman Javed said that he was aware of the letter and said any such inquiry would disrupt preparations for upcoming Board examinations. He said that no suggestion or proposal was made in the board meeting held in September regarding this probe and he was not informed before issuing the orders. He said that the government is free to probe government-aided madrassas and added that the probe of madrassas has now become a routine process that affects its functioning. He said that Board examinations are to be held in madrassas in the coming February itself and preparations are being made for the same. "In such a situation, another probe will cause disruption in preparations. Last year itself, a survey of all the recognised and unrecognised madrassas of the state was conducted but no action was taken on its report. "In such a situation, orders have now been given to start a new probe," he said.

The state government conducted a comprehensive check of all recognised and unrecognised madrassas in the state in September last year, wherein approximately 8,000 madrassas were found to be unrecognised in the state. In 2017, a probe was also conducted when all the madrassas of the state were asked to upload the details of teachers and other things on the portal of the Madrasa Board. "The educational records of teachers of all recognised madrassas are present in the records of the board," he said. "There is no objection to the probe, but it should be done properly once so that in future the work in madrassas can be focused," Javed said. "There should be a time for the probe. There should not be any probe in madrassas amid preparation for the exams," he added.