More than 100 small madrasas in Assam have been merged with larger ones, said Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, claiming that this is a bid to address “radical teaching” in the state.
The Assam police are working with private madrasa boards in the state to identify madrasas with less than 50 students and merge these with larger ones. Madrasa board officials told The Indian Express that they are conducting “surveys” to submit data on this to the police.
“We are eyeing some big reforms. Some rules and orders have been put in place. There are four strains of religious thought in Assam. They have pledged to take these reforms to the madrasas under them and they are working on it. Madrasas with less than 50 students will be merged with bigger ones. With this, a lot of madrasas operating needlessly will be closed. As far as I know, more than 100 such madrasas have been merged with others,” Mahanta said on Monday.
He said this bid to reduce the number of madrasas is an attempt to tackle “radicalism”.
“Some people call themselves maulana and enter some madrasas and mosques and teach radicalised thought. This is happening in some madrasas and it’s a cause for concern. We are framing some rules such as there can be only one madrasa within 3 km,” he said.
In the last month, 52 madrasas under the All Assam Tanzim Madaris Qawmiya have been merged into 21. According to General Secretary Abdul Qadir Qasimi, the survey is on.
“The discussion we had with the police was that there are some madrasas with very few students, which can be merged to make good madrasas. So, instead of more numbers, we can make good ones. So far, around 1,700 madrasas have filled the survey form and in more than 200 of these, we have found less than 50 students,” he said.
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Similarly, the All Assam Talimi Taraqqi Board is also conducting a survey. “There are around 300 madrasas under us and we are conducting the survey in every district. All those with less than 50 students will be amalgamated with a nearby one. We are submitting our report to the SP,” said General Secretary Mujahidul Islam.
The BJP-led Assam government has been cracking down on madrasas. In 2020, the government had passed a law, according to which all state-run madrasas were to be converted into “regular schools”.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
