Madhya Pradesh Prohibits Hindu Students from Enrolling in Madrasas

The development comes amid complaints that several madrasas in the state were enrolling fictitious Hindu students to get government aid.

“An investigation was ordered following complaints that several madrasas have enrolled Hindu students and are running on papers only. During the probe, it has been found that ‘thousands of Hindu students’ have been enrolled in madrasas”, state school education minister Rao Uday Pratap Singh told reporters here.

As many as 56 madrasas have so far been de-recognised following the probe, he said.

In a recent letter to the concerned authorities, the minister said that the madrasas cannot force the students to participate in the religious activities or religious studies without written consent from them or their parents, if they are minors.

Violation of the order would attract stringent action against the erring madrasas, the letter said.

“All institutes- be it madrasa, government-aided institutes, or private institutes- have to abide by the New Education Policy 2020 provisions. The rules, including the Right to Education, have to be followed. In that direction, madrasas are being investigated and if irregularities are found in any madrasas, then stringent action would be taken, as per the law”, the minister said.

Sources said that the physical verification of the madrasas regulated by the Madhya Pradesh Madrasa Board (MPMB) has led to disclosure that some of them existed on papers only.

It has also brought to light that ‘fictitious Hindu students’ have been enrolled in these educational institutes.

Fifty six madrasas in Sehore district in the state, which had received recognition by the MPMB, have de-recognised after being found to be non-functional in the physical verification done by the local district education officer, sources said.

Eighty madrasas in Sehore district have been accorded recognition by the MPMB.

Fifty four of them are receiving government aid, sources said.

That means, more than 70 percent of madrasas in the district, which have been given recognition by the board, are non-functional, sources said.

Congress spokesman Abbas Hafeez has however taken strong exception to the move to bar Hindu students from being enrolled in madrasas, fearing that it may disturb communal harmony.

He said that Hindu students are enrolled in madrasas with the consent of their parents.