2 August 2024: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has requested Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to rescind a government directive mandating the transfer of students from unrecognized madrasas to state-run schools, reported the Times of India.
The delegation, led by AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rahman Mujaddidi, argued that the June 26 order issued by then Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra contravenes the constitutional rights of minorities to establish and manage educational institutions of their choice.
Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali, a member of the delegation, highlighted that madrasas and Vedic pathshalas are exempt from the Right to Education Act of 2009. The AIMPLB contended that the directive, which affects 8,449 madrasas, infringes on these exemptions and disrupts the educational framework for many students.
The AIMPLB also criticized a letter from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) dated June 7, which prompted the state government order.
According to the AIMPLB, the NCPCR’s letter advised that non-Muslim students in government-funded madrasas be transferred to Basic Education Council schools and that students in unrecognized madrasas be enrolled in these council schools. Farangi Mahali stated, “The chief minister has assured that he will look into the matter.”
Uttar Pradesh is home to approximately 25,000 madrasas, with around 16,000 recognized by the government, including 560 that receive government aid. The order requires district magistrates to implement the directive through committees formed at the district level.
The meeting between AIMPLB representatives and Chief Minister Adityanath underscores ongoing tensions between the state administration and Muslim educational institutions over the rights and management of minority education.
