Over 2,000 madarsas ‘disappear’ in UP

LUCKNOW: Nearly 2,300 madarsas in Uttar Pradesh have either disappeared or existed only on paper. This fact came to light after the UP government made it mandatory for madarsas to register themselves. However, only 16,823 out of 19,123 madarsas got themselves registered by the Octoberend deadline set by the government, according to Madarsa Board registrar Rahul Gupta.

UP minority welfare minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI that the minority welfare department was considering a proposal to treat these ‘missing’ Islamic institutions as ‘fake.’

“Where are these madarsas? We are considering them as ‘fake’. There is a possibility that action may be taken against these madarsas by the end of January,” Chaudhary said.

He said a case of misuse of the Rs 20 crore government fund by madarsas had already come to light in Shahjahanpur and a vigilance probe had been ordered into it.

“The fraud came to light when we detected that one student was enrolled at more than one madarsa. Similarly, there were teachers who were relatives of the madarsa management members,” Chaudhary said.

Gupta said there would be no extension of the registration deadline and it was for the government to take a call on these madarsas.

“This year, as many as 3,691 aaliya level (above class 8th) madarsas have been registered. Students of these madarsas will be allowed to sit in board examinations. The last date to fill examination form is January 15,” Gupta said. Chaudhary, on the other hand, said he would prefer to wait till the month-end and give these madarsas one more chance to furnish information before recommending any action against them. The minister, however, hastened to add that no student of the registered madarsa would be deprived of the opportunity to appear for any examination.

“We had extended the last date for submission of details by madarsas on the web portal of the department a number of times. Dates were extended on July 15, 2017, July 30, 2017 and August 15, 2017.

But, surprisingly no student, teacher, principal or manager of any of the 2,300 madarsas approached us,” Chaudhary said.

The minister said by making registration compulsory and laying down norms, the government wanted to ensure there was no exploitation of teachers and other staff and that scholarship was directly transferred to the account of the students.

On the issue of non-disbursement of salaries to teachers of some madarsas, Chaudhary said there were 560 governmentfunded madarsas and the funds for these have reached the respective districts. In 46 madarsas, the disbursement of salary to 298 teachers and employees was affected for other reasons, he said.

“The disputes pertain to that of management, recognition and building parameters. The director of the department has been asked to resolve the dispute within a month. Once the disputes are resolved, the salary will be disbursed,” he said.

Chaudhary asserted that the intention of the government was not to stop the salary of anyone.