What Does the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Survey Want to Achieve?
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
28 October
2022
There Seems
To No Clear-Cut Strategy With Regard To These Institutions
Main
Points:
1. So far,
there are reports of 7000 unrecognized madrasas in UP
2. There are
ideological and bureaucratic reasons for such a high number
3. The more
important question is whether there is any larger objective behind such a
survey
4. The government
says it wants to mainstream madrasas but does not spell out what it means by
mainstreaming
5. This looks
like another exercise in ad hocism which will only benefit the politics of
religious polarization
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Few weeks
back, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister ordered that all madrasas in the state
be surveyed. The district magistrate was made in charge of the survey, assisted
by officials of minority and education departments. If news reports are to go
by, that survey is now over and it appears that the data will be made available
sometime in November. The media reported, sensationally of course, that there
were about 7000 unrecognized madrasas in Uttar Pradesh. They reported the
matter as if all these 7000 institutions were running illegally, although this
is far from truth. In terms of administrative control and authority, there are
different kinds of madrasas all over India. Being unrecognized in this case
simply means that these madrasas were not registered with the madrasa board of
Uttar Pradesh, although they must be a registered entity. Being an unrecognized
madrasa simply means that it does not get perks from the state, such as salary
of science/math teachers, infrastructural grants etc. Further, it means that
it’s syllabus need not be vetted by the state government; that they are free to
teach subjects of their own liking and teach them the way they want it. In
short, there is no governmental oversight in these madrasas.
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Seven
thousand is a large number. There can be many reasons why so many madrasas are
unregistered/unrecognized. Since 2011, when Mayawati was the chief minister,
the UP madrasa board stopped giving recognition to new madrasas. The same
policy was continued till 2017 during the reign of Akhilesh Yadav. It is very
natural therefore that all madrasas in the state which have been established
since 2011 would be unrecognized. Moreover, anecdotal evidence suggests that
ever since the Yogi government came to power, there has been a certain unease
within the madrasa establishment regarding its intention. As a result of which
they themselves do not want any recognition from the state whatsoever.
File Photo
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But there
is an ideological reason as well which is explained in the foundational
statement of Deoband Madrasa. One of the principles of that madrasa was that
the institution should desist from taking any financial or other grant from the
government. The reason is that since madrasa is primarily for the purpose of
imparting religious education; it is will be blameworthy to take money from any
non-Islamic source. Deoband avoided not just the colonial source but also the
post-Independence Indian source. There are many madrasas which follow the
Deoband model, particularly in Western UP, and hence they would be
ideologically wary of getting anywhere near the state. A more pragmatic reason
though it that any assistance from the government also brings in its wake
supervision and auditing. Since most madrasas are run as private fiefdoms, no
one wants to cede their control and authority to the state.
The real question
is not how many madrasas are unrecognized but what does the government intend
to do with them. Ostensibly, the purpose is to elevate the level of education
within these madrasas. Danish Azad Ansari, the lone Muslim minister in the UP
cabinet is on record to say that the intention is to mainstream madrasas, bring
them on par with government schools. He is probably right that Muslims are
overreacting regarding the intent of the present government. One look at the
questions in the survey is sufficient to tell us that the government is
basically interested in collecting data on various facets of these madrasas,
including of course their source of funding. No government can be called out
simply because it asks such questions from any religious or educational
institution. Muslims, simply because of being citizens of this country, should
have no qualms in providing this information to the designated authority.
However, whether the madrasas themselves maintain this information is an open
question as most of them run on community donations with very little transparency
in terms of record keeping.
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But one is
not too sure if the government has put its mind as to how it wants to
mainstream these madrasas. What does this mainstreaming mean in this context?
Does it mean overhauling the curriculum of these madrasas by including modern
subjects? Is the government willing to commit such resources for madrasa
education, given the fact that it revels in displaying anti-minority attitudes?
Also, how will this be any different from the modernization programme run by
the previous Congress government? And if there is no difference between the
two, then what objective will this madrasa survey serve?
Moreover,
have they thought how the Muslim community will react to it and how are they
going to tackle this reaction? The Congress government floated a proposal to
set up an All India Madrasa Board which would have solved problems of
recognition. However, the reaction from the Ulama was so severe that the
proposal was hurriedly shelved. After all, most of these madrasas are
specifically designed to teach a sectarian curriculum and have no interest in
teaching modern sciences. How does the government propose to bring together the
warring factions of Deobandis and Barelvis? It is questions like these which
makes one think whether the government has really thought about the issue or is
just another political gimmick?
But let us
suppose that everyone agrees on the mainstreaming of madrasas. Then what? Are
we going to teach students Islamic and secular subjects at the same time? Does
this even make any pedagogic sense? The Quran classes will tell them that the
sun goes down in a dirty pond every evening while their science classes will
tell them something else. How will they maintain the distinction between
theology and history? This will perhaps produce a model as per the wishes of
our prime minister: Quran in one hand and computer in another. But isn’t that
precisely the problem? The foremost example of this marriage of Quran and computer
was Osama bin Laden; do we want our children to emulate him? Or should we be
giving them an education which motivates them to pursue higher learning in
sciences and art without being in the least encumbered by religious dogmas?
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The less
said about the Muslim response, the better it is. Mr. Owaisi has called this
survey mini- NRC, simply because some questions are being asked from madrasas.
As if these institutions have their own sovereignty and are above the law of
the land. Unfortunately, Muslims do not see the harm that comes from madrasa
education; if at all it can be called as an education. What good can come out
of any system whose children are made to learn that the earth is flat. What
good can come out of a system which does not give its children a sense of the
nation and world? Certainly, people like Mr. Owaisi can earn their law degrees
in the United Kingdom but who cares for the poor Muslims studying in madrasas.
Let them just be used for furthering the political careers of Muslim leaders.
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A
regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher
on Islam and Muslims in South Asia.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/madrasa-survey-achieve-religious-education/d/128287
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