Madrasas ‘unsuitable and unfit’ to impart education, child rights body tells SC

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.

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"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 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 Madarsa 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.

Madrasas not only rendered an unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education but also had an arbitrary mode of working which was wholly against the Act and they didn’t have a curriculum and evaluation procedure as laid down under Section 29 of the RTE Act, the child rights body said.

The NCPRC said there were three types of madrasas in India -- recognized 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.

The unmapped madrasas were the common type of madrasas in India having the largest number of children enrolled, the NCPCR said, adding children attending all such institutions (unrecognised and/or unmapped schools) should be treated as ‘Out of School’.

Noting that around 1.2 crore Muslim children in the age group of six to 13 remained out of school, it said, “The state being the guardian of all and also through the doctrine of “parens patrie” is liable under a duty to provide education through the mandate of Article 51(k). However, the fact of getting education in a madrasa through a state fund instead of getting enrolled in a proper school obstructs the aforementioned Constitutional mandate.”