The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has pulled up the Uttar Pradesh government for not taking action regarding an earlier commission direction, issued on December 8 last year, in which it had asked the state government to investigate allegations that Hindu children were being taught at madrasas. The commission had also written to the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary to map the unmapped madrasas in the state.
In his letter to the special secretary of the minorities department of the UP government on Friday, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has said that while directions to the chief secretary had been forwarded to the department for “necessary compliance”, no action has been taken so far. “…no action taken report in compliance as sought by the commission has been received from your good office in the matter,” the letter says.
The NCPCR has asked the UP government to take “urgent appropriate action in the matter”. It has also directed the UP government to submit an action-taken report to the commission within the next three days.
Kanoongo has further raised the issue of the UP State Madrasa Board chairman allegedly saying that children of other faiths would be taught at madrasas.
“Besides, the commission has come across various media reports wherein the chairman of UP State Madrasa Education Board Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Javed has given irrelevant and divergent statements in various media, advocating the continuance of children of other faiths in the madrasas. The commission totally disagrees with the statement of the chairman of UP State Madrasa Education Board which not only violates the constitutional rights of the children but also shows disrespect to the commission’s mandate,” it has said.
“We have been receiving reports and complaints from UP that Hindu children are being taught at madrasas in the state. Why should this be? The UP madrasa board was set up to ensure that children studying at madrasas also receive some kind of formal education to make them employable. But this has not been the case. The medium of instruction, as prescribed by the board, is Arabic, Persian and Urdu – how can children build their careers based on this and without appropriate knowledge of English or Hindi? Besides this, the instructions imparted at these madrasas is religious in nature and about Islam – why should Hindu children learn this,” said Kanoongo, speaking with The Indian Express.