UP Govt-aided Madrasas To Receive Free NCERT Textbooks, Empty Promises say Madarsa Principals

According to the NCERT curriculum's progressive adoption in madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, students are reportedly given free textbooks. After three academic years, madrasas assert that they were given the incorrect or insufficient number of textbooks.

Wahidullah Khan Saeedy, General Secretary of All India Teachers Association of Madrasa e Arabia said, "Madrasas accepted being recognised by the NCERT in good faith and have provided their requisition of books needed, but they have received few or none at this time." 

"The NGO that was appointed to provide these books charged the government in full but only delivered less than half the requisition made. Inquiry on the issue is underway," he added.

Textbooks of the Basic Education Council are reportedly said to be made available free of cost to the students of Classes I to VIII of aided madrasas.

Principal of another madarsa in UP, Maulana Tariq Shamsi said “We have received 5 sets of books instead of 30 twice since 2017. Books that aren't even prescribed for our board. We are a Hindi medium madrasa and we were sent English textbooks.”

“The packages that arrived looked like a clean up from a godown! We use them as additional books in the library” he exclaimed. 

Madrasas were also promised payments directly into students' accounts, and the government was given access to those accounts. Principals claim there has been no financial credit yet. 

Numerous letters of complaint have been written to the Registrar Madarsa Board, Director Minority Welfare and Principal Secretary Minority Welfare by these madrasas principals questioning the arrival of books, “none have been replied to,” added Maulana Shamsi. 

In UP, there are more than 25,000 madrasas. The UP Board of Madarsa Education has recognised more than 16,513 of these institutions. 558 of these are aided by the government, while the others are just connected to the Madrasa education board. Over 19 lakh students are enrolled in madrasas that have been recognised, while over 7 lakh pupils are studying in the state's 8,500 unrecognized madrasas.

After claiming to introduce modern education in madrasas, the UP government has also initiated 1 lakh pupils attending 558 government-aided madrasas to receive free uniforms.

According to Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, chairman of the UP State Madrasa Education Board, “Efforts are being made to provide them with the uniform by July of this year. A deposit of Rs. 1,200 will be made to the accounts of madrasa students under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, for the uniform. The freedom of the madrasas to select the uniform's design was another point he made.”

Published on: Sunday, July 09, 2023, 09:19 PM IST