Centre cold-shouldering state madrasas: Officials
KOTA: Madrasas of Rajasthan are not receiving funds for modernisation from the centre since 2014, said officials familiar with the matter.
The former United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government started the Scheme of Providing Quality Education in Madrasa (SPQEM) under the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) in 2011 with the objective of modernisation of the institutions, but since 2014-15, no funds have been allocated by the centre, they said.
State Madrasa Board academic officer Iqbal Khan said that the centre in 2014-15 sanctioned ₹6.5 crore for the scheme in Rajasthan, out of which first instalment of ₹2.45 crore was received the same year, but after that the state has got no funds under the SPQEM.
“Madrasa Board sent a proposal of ₹31 crore under the scheme to the centre. The union government has not sanctioned any budget yet,” he added.
Kota District Minority Office programme officer Liaqat Hussain Ansari said funds under the SPQEM were meant for infrastructure development including establishment of computer laboratories, libraries, electrification, drinking water and other facilities in madrasas.
“SPQEM is also intended to provide honorarium to subject teachers of science, mathematics, English and Hindi in madrasas for providing quality and modern education. For lack of funds, the institutions are unable to hire teachers of these subjects,” he said.
Apart from SPQEM, madrasas in the state received funds under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha abhiyan (RAMSA) until three years ago, Khan said. The MHRD provided ₹7,000 per month under SSA for madrasas running classes 1 to 6, and ₹12,000 per month under RAMSA for madrasas up to class 8, for cleanliness and maintenance works, he said. “But MHRD merged SSA and RAMSA with new scheme Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SAMSA) in 2016-17 to provide composite grants to schools, but madrasas were removed from the list of beneficiaries, so the madarsas get no funds as of now from the centre,” he said.
There are 3,239 madrasas in the state where 200,000 students are enrolled. Around 2,885 madrasas are for primary education and 354 are for upper primary education (up to class 8).