Assam's move to close state-run Madrasas & Sanskrit schools gives one party a poll plank

The Assam government has decided to shut down all government-run Madrasas and Sanskrit tols in the state, revealed Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in the Assembly on Tuesday. According to the Minister, no religious education should be undertaken through the state government's funds. This move will not affect the Madrasas and tols that are being run privately without government funding, added the Minister. 

"Our government's policy we had announced earlier in the state Assembly. There should be no religious education with the government's funding," he said. "We have nothing to say about privately-run madrasas and Sanskrit tols," Sarma added.

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A formal notification regarding this development would be issued in November, informed Himanta Biswa Sarma. According to the state figures, there are currently 647 Madrasas and over 1000 Sanskrit schools in the state, including both private and state-funded. After the government-run Madrasas and tols are shut, the contractual teachers would be shifted to schools under the Education Department and would not lose their employment. 

This move has caused a massive backlash by the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief Badruddin Ajmal. Slamming the state government's move, the leader has said that his party would reinstate government-run madrasas after coming to power in 2021 Assembly poll.

According to Sarma, Madrasas and tols could not be provincialised as the state was adopting a modern education system. All private institutions are free to continue running their schools. 

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