Communal Harmony or Goof-up by Authorities? Over 9000 Hindu Children Enrolled in Madrassas in Madhya Pradesh

The revelation was made at the important review meeting of various departments of Madhya Pradesh chaired by National President of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanungo who asked the Mohan Yadav led BJP government to admit the Hindu children in government schools.

Bhopal: Call it communal harmony or goof-up by the authorities, over 9000 Hindu children are enrolled in Islamic seminaries (madrassas) in hindi heartland state of Madhya Pradesh with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights asking the Mohan Yadav led BJP government asked to admit such children in government schools, ETV Bharat has learnt.

It is learnt that National President of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Priyank Kanungo has revealed this after a review meeting with various departments of Madhya Pradesh government.

A spokesperson for the National President of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said that in the review meeting with the departments, it was given that a total of 1755 madrasas are registered in the state where 9,417 Hindu children are enrolled.

The NCPCR said that the consent of the family members is necessary for Hindu children studying in madrasas, but the state government has not been able to provide the consent letter of even a single family member in the last years. The National President of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, expressing concern over the school education system of the state, has demanded from the state government that the children studying in madrasas be immediately admitted to government schools.

According to the NCPCR, the Act establishing the Madhya Pradesh Madrasa Board states that Islamic religious education should be imparted in madrasas. However, the teachers teaching in madrasas are not qualified whereas these teachers should be B.Ed, D.Ed qualified as per the Act, the NCPCR said adding the infrastructure of madrasas is also not up to the standards.

The Chairman of the Commission said that the Right to Education Act stipulates the government to set up schools and teaching children “rather than funding the madrasa board and giving the money meant for those poor children to madrasas”. The Commission has demanded the Mohan Yadav government of the state to reconsider the entire scheme, and has also asked to immediately shift Hindu children from madrasas.

Incomplete Mapping

The Chairman of the Commission said that even after the instructions of the Commission, the government could not get the survey and mapping of madrasas done in the past, so that it can be known how many madrasas are operating in the state and how many of them are illegal. The commission also raised serious questions on the orphanages run by the Waqf Board. It said that four orphanages are run by the Waqf Board, but none of these have been registered under the Juvenile Justice Act, even though this law has been implemented 10 years ago. The commission has given instructions that the orphanages be registered, and FIRs should be lodged against the unregistered ones.

No Data on Disabled Children

The commission's chairman said that it came to light in the review meeting that the departments of Madhya Pradesh do not have the accurate data about disabled children with there being anomalies in the data by various departments.