Madrassas in Assam will not get government support, the government has to present a bill today

- Earlier a minister had announced on the issue

Guwahati Dated 28th December 2020 Monday

Madrassas in Assam will no longer receive government funding. The proposal was to be tabled by the Assam government today.

The three-day winter session of the Legislative Assembly is set to begin in Assam from today. The announcement was made by state cabinet minister Himant Biswa Sarma. He said the madrassas would not get the financial support they have received so far. Once the proposal is passed, the Assam government will not run madrassas.

He said the practice was started when there was a Muslim League government before independence to run madrassas with government money. This was a communal decision. Now the Assam government has to reverse the decision. The Assam government's decision will cut off state government funding to madrassas and Arabic colleges. From the next academic session, the madrasa will be dissolved and handed over to the secondary education department. In madrassas, only teachers who teach religious subjects are trained like other teachers who teach all subjects.

Sarma further said that government money was used for Islamic religious education in pre-independence India. By closing that tradition, we are becoming truly secular. The 189 government schools currently running madrassas will be closed and the word madrassa will be removed. All religious courses will be canceled before April 2021. The Board of Secondary Education will conduct the last Madrasa examination in 2021.

Earlier, Sarma had publicly said that all government-funded madrassas and Arabic colleges would be closed and replaced by secondary school board curricula. Teachers of those educational institutions will be trained to teach all subjects like other teachers. This is the true meaning of secular state. Government funding for religious education cannot be given to people of a particular religion.