Madrasas unfit to impart education: Rights body in Supreme Court

Describing madrasas as an “unsuitable and unfit” place to receive ‘proper’ education, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Supreme Court that madrasas not being schools — as defined under the Right to Education Act, 2009 — have no right to compel children or their families to receive madrasa education.

Go against Right To Education ACT

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Madrasas not only render an unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education but also have an arbitrary mode of working, which is wholly against the Right to Education Act, 2009. — NCPCR

“It is a flagrant violation of a child’s fundamental constitutional right to education to impart instruction that is entirely in the context of religion and that does not adhere to the requirements of the RTE Act, 2009, or any other applicable laws. Innocent children suffer as a result of the religious subject of education becoming institutionalised in madrasas,” the NCPCR said in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.

“Further, it is also humbly submitted that merely teaching a few NCERT books in the curriculum is a mere guise in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education,” the NCPCR affidavit read.

“The State cannot facilitate such activity beyond the RTE Act which is in violation to Article 21A (Right to Education) of the Constitution of India. Madrasas being out of this definition have no right to compel children or their families to receive madrasa’s education. A madrasa is not only an unsuitable place to receive ‘fundamental’ education but also in absence of entitlements as provided under Sections 19, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, and 29 of the RTE Act,” it said.

The affidavit has been filed in response to a petition challenging the Allahabad High Court’s March 22 order declaring the ‘UP Board of Madrasa Education Act 2004’ unconstitutional, being violative of Articles 21 (right to life and liberty) and 21A (right to free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 years) of the Constitution. The high court held that a secular state has no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and create separate education systems for separate religions.

However, the Supreme Court on April 5 stayed the high court’s order, noting that the high court’s views appeared to be prima facie incorrect in its decision that would impact nearly 17 lakh students. Since madrasas were exempted from the purview of the RTE Act, 2009, all children studying there were deprived of not only formal education in schools but also benefits such as midday meal, uniform, trained teachers etc. as provided under the Act, it contended.

The NCPRC said there were three types of madrasas in India — recognised madrasas imparting religious education and may be imparting formal education to some extent but not as per RTE Act is recognised by State Madrasa Board; unrecognised madrasas ineligible for recognition by the state government due to lack of formal education, non-compliant infrastructure, etc; and unmapped madrasas that never applied for recognition by the state government.