News Brief
Closure Of State-Run Madrasas In Assam: Shia Waqf Board Chief Welcomes Move, Says Madrasas Should Be Completely Shut Down
Sayeed Wasim Rizvi (Subhankar Chakraborty/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced last week that government-aided Madrassas in the state will be shut down. He added that the decision is being made to bring uniformity.
He reportedly said: “All state-run Madrassas will be converted into regular schools or in certain cases teachers will be transferred to state-run schools and Madrassas will be shut down. A notification will be released in November."
The decision has led to outrage and criticism of the Assam government. Many have said that the decision has been taken in order to suppress the Muslim community.
He added: In my opinion, teaching 'Quran' can't happen at the cost of government money, if we have to do so then we should also teach both the Bible and Bhagavad Gita. So, we want to bring uniformity and stop this practice."
Amid the outrage, the decision has been welcomed by the Chief of the Shia Waqf Board in Uttar Pradesh.
The board has made allegations that terrorists are putting money into madrasas.
It has said that all madrasas should be shut down and children should be taught under regular schools.
Shia Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi has said that children of all religions need to sit together and study to defeat and end fundamentalist mentality, bigotry, bias against other religions, the misrepresentation of Islam and hatred against other religions.
Rizvi has said that madrasas should be completely closed and has raised questions on the syllabus of madrasas. He has asked why the syllabus is not available at book shops.
Rizvi said that terrorism money is being invested in madrasas.
Two weeks ago, Rizvi had called for abolishing of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 and demanded that a high-level committee be appointed to “reclaim land from mosques constructed over ancient temples.”
He wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that the “original status” of such sites be restored in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and New Delhi.
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