The Supreme Court has given a big decision for the children studying in Madarsa in Uttar Pradesh. The court has upheld the validity of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Act. The Supreme Court has overturned the decision of the Allahabad High Court, which while canceling the Act had said that the Madrasa Act of UP is a violation of secularism.
In the news we will know what the Supreme Court has said in its decision, what is the Madrasa law, why the High Court had declared it unconstitutional and now what will be the change in Madrasa education due to the decision of the Supreme Court…
Supreme Court said 5 big things in the order
Madarsa Board awards graduation degree with the name Kamil and post graduation degree with the name Fazil. These degrees have now been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Madrasa Act brought to bring control of government
In the year 2004, Madrasa Education Act was brought to improve the education in Madrasas. Its objective is to control the functioning of madrassas in Uttar Pradesh. Under the Act, a framework was created for opening Madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, giving them recognition and administration of Madrasas.
Under the Act, the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board was established to oversee and monitor the activities of Madrasas in UP. Some eligibility criteria were fixed to get recognition from the board. The board was responsible for preparing syllabus for madrassas, teaching material and training teachers.
The first petition against the Madrasa Act was filed in 2012 by Sirajul Haq, manager of Darul Uloom Wasiya Madrasa. Then in 2014, the petition was filed by Minority Welfare Secretary Abdul Aziz of Lucknow and in 2019 by Mohammad Javed of Lucknow. After this, in 2020, Raijul Mustafa had filed two petitions. Anshuman Singh Rathore filed the petition in 2023. The National Commission for Child Protection (NCPCR) argued that even though one has the right to take religious education, it cannot be accepted as an alternative to mainstream education. The nature of all these cases was the same. Therefore Allahabad High Court merged all the petitions.
In these petitions, the Act was opposed on these 5 points-
The issue gained momentum due to UP government's investigation into illegal madrassas.
The UP government had received inputs from social organizations and security agencies that madrassas were being run illegally. On this basis, Uttar Pradesh Council and Minority Minister had decided to conduct a survey. After this, a 5-member team was formed in every district. This included District Minority Officer and District School Inspector.
The survey of madrassas was conducted from 10 September 2022 to 15 November 2022. This time limit was later extended till 30 November. In this survey, about 8441 madrassas were found in the state which were not recognized. In October 2023, the UP government had formed SIT to investigate madrassas. SIT is investigating foreign funding to madrassas. At present there are 25 thousand madrassas in Uttar Pradesh. Of these, about 16,500 madrasas have received recognition from the State Madrasa Education Council. Of these, there are 560 madrassas which get government grants.
High Court declared Madrasa Act unconstitutional
On March 22, 2024, the Allahabad High Court, while hearing the petitions, had canceled the Madrasa Education Act, declaring it unconstitutional. The Lucknow bench of the court had said that this act is against secularism, Articles 14, 15 (right to equality) and 21-A (right to education) of the Indian Constitution.
The High Court said that the Madrasa Board has discriminated against the education of children. The High Court said that when children of all religions are getting modern education in every subject, then children of a particular religion should not be limited to madrassa education.
The court had also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to make a plan to transfer children studying in madrassas to recognized schools.
Supreme Court stayed the High Court's decision
Anjum Qadri, manager of Madrasa Azizia Ijazutul Uloom, had challenged the decision of the High Court in the Supreme Court. The first hearing took place in the Supreme Court on April 5, 2024. The court stayed the High Court's decision.
The court had said, 'The High Court is prima facie not right. It would be wrong to say that this Madrassa Act violates secularism. It is not right to give instructions to transfer madrassa students to another school. Religious education has never been a curse in the country. How are Buddhist monks trained?'
The UP government had also defended the Madrasa Act in the High Court. Then the court had said – Secularism means, 'Live and let live.' If the government says that they should also be given some secular education, then it is the sentiment of the country.
A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on 22 October and the court had reserved the decision.
Madrasa Act is constitutional, Supreme Court pointed out 2 mistakes of High Court
Now madrassas will not be able to give degrees even to Kamil and Fazil. According to the court's decision, madrassas can give certificates up to 12th, but madrassas will not have the recognition to provide further education i.e. post graduation and graduation degrees. This means that Madrassas recognized by the Board will no longer be able to give Kamil and Fazil degrees to students.
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Graphics Source: NavJivanIndia | VaskarAssets
