Kolkata: As many as 252 unaided and unrecognised madrasahs have been issued closure notices by the Government of West Bengal. Another 100 such institutions have been served show-cause notices and may face closure if they fail to explain the irregularities and answer the queries.
“A survey was conducted through district administration across 22 districts and in Kolkata. Details of teachers, students, infrastructure and funds available was inspected by a special team on the basis of which 252 madrasahs have been closed in the first phase,” Kshudiram Tudu, minister for minority affairs and madrasah education said, as reported by The Hindu.
Of the madrasahs that have been served closure notices, 44 are in Malda, 37 in Uttar Dinajpur, 32 in South 24 Parganas, and 25 each in Nadia and Murshidabad.
Such unrecognised and unaided madrasahs are also called Khariji Madrasahs; they are independent Islamic educational institutions that operate without government funding, formal recognition, or official regulatory control.
There are over 2,000 such unrecognised madrasahs in West Bengal. Soon after coming to power, the Suvendu Adhikari government had ordered a survey of these Khariji madrasahs, after reports that some of them could be spreading radical thoughts among children.
West Bengal has hundreds of state-aided and recognised madrasahs which are administered by the West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education. The Madrasah Education system in Bengal has a history of almost 250 years, and it grew and flourished with the foundation of the Calcutta Madrasah in 1780 by the British East India Company.
Earlier this month, Adhikari had said that there will be a ‘One State, One Education’ policy in West Bengal. The Aliah University, which was under the madrasah education ministry, has been brought under the higher education ministry, he said.
The move has been welcomed by several BJP leaders, including the party’s state president Samik Bhattacharya. He said that former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had pointed out that extremist elements were promoted through madrasahs but had to retract later under pressure from the Left Front.
There can’t be two forms of education in a state, he said.
“India is a secular country. In this country, there is no discrimination among people based on religion. Therefore, it is extremely essential to ensure equal opportunities, equal rights, and a uniform standard of the education system for every child in the country,” Bhattacharya had posted on social media.
Trinamool Congress MLA and Mamata Banerjee loyalist Kunal Ghosh, however, said that the BJP leaders’ claims about extremism in madrasahs and their targeting is incorrect. The state also has the tradition of imparting education through ‘Sanskrit Tols’, he said.
