Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has recommended the closure of madrasas and the suspension of financial assistance to madrasas and boards. The commission clarified this in a letter addressed to the chief secretaries of states and Union Territories. According to the Right to Education Act of 2009, students from communities other than the Muslim community studying in madrasas should be transferred to regular schools. It stated that even if madrasas are recognized, children from the Muslim community studying there should be moved to regular schools, as clarified by Priyanka Kanungo, chairperson of the commission.
The letter pointed out that excluding religious institutions from the law has led to the exclusion of children studying solely in religious institutions from the formal education system. The commission also sent a report titled “Children’s Constitutional Rights vs. Madrasas” along with the letter.
The commission noted that there is a lack of trained or qualified teachers in madrasas as suggested by the National Council for Teacher Education. It added that madrasa teachers primarily rely on traditional methods found in religious texts.
This move comes just days after the Maharashtra government decided to triple the salaries of madrasa teachers. Maharashtra’s IT and Rural Development Minister Panchayati Raj stated that the commission’s recommendation is contradictory.
