The SIT, which was formed in October 2023, was created after concerns were raised over ‘illegal’ madrasas in the state after a survey. Its report now has recommended the closure of 13,000 such madrasas in the state that have failed to disclose details about their donors and funds.
The SIT is reportedly spearheaded by ADG ATS Mohit Agarwal and is made up SP Cyber Crime Dr Triveni Singh and Director of Minority Welfare, J. Reebha.
As per a report by the Hindustan Times a UP government official told the newspaper that these madrasas are receiving funds from ‘Gulf countries.’
Another official told HT, that the SIT has not been able to obtain proof of transparent records of funds from these madrasas as they have failed to provide documents showing details about their income or expenditure. This has reportedly lead them to suspect that there could a conspiracy, as per the report.
In response to the issue of these “illegal” madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, as per a report on March 7 by The Hindu, has asserted that action will be taken against people involved in ‘anti-national’ activities under the pretext of education. The deputy CM also stated, “I haven’t seen the report. If there are activities against the country under the guise of education, then investigation will be done and action will be taken against the culprits. Those who do good work will be protected and appreciated by the government.”
According to the Free Press Journal, a representative from the UP State Madrasa Board has stated that a good number of these madrasas have “strategically situated themselves along the Nepal border.” The report by the SIT has reportedly backed this claim by arguing that there are 300 madrasas in each of these districts bordering Nepal, including Maharajganj, Shravasti, Bahraich, and Gonda.
According to a recent report by the Hindustan Times, J. Reebha, who is part of the SIT, has stated, “We have only sent some recommendations to the state government and still have to submit the final report. We cannot share details, but there have been many madrasas which claim to have been constructed through donations, yet they struggle to disclose the names of contributors.”
In December 2023, the Times of India reported that the SIT had identified 80 madrasas in the state that had received donation of over 100 crore. The SIT was, as per the report, at the time in the process of identifying if there were any financial irregularities in these.
The Economic Times has reported that UP had around 8000 unrecognised madrasas in the state in 2022. This was revealed after a survey was conducted in the state. The UP Madara Education Board chairperson Iftikhar Ahmed Javed had stated that it had been 8 years since any new recognition process had started, which is why several of these institutes were labelled illegal. Javed had also written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath to institute the process to recognise these madrasas. According to the Indian Express, the highest number of such madrasas was recorded in Moradabad. In November 2023, Iftikhar Javed told Maktoob Media that the education of over 7 lakh students is put into danger , “5,000 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have applied for the registration to get them recognized since 2016, and that remains pending, because it doesn’t get any response from the authorities. This also put the education of more than 7 lakh students at stake.” Dr Javed also told Maktoob Media that, “The government after more than a year of survey is now coming up with this new technique to target madrasas because they couldn’t find anything potential against them and now they will plant one.”
The decision to close these 13,000 allegedly illegal madrasas comes after the government expressed concerns about the use of foreign funds to promote terrorist activities.
As per a Hate Buster by Citizens for Justice and Peace, madrasas are institutes of education that receive students of all backgrounds, even Hindu students, and thereby are not restricted to educating students of one community. The Hate Buster dispels stereotypes that reveals that according to the Sachar Committee report which was released in 2006, madrasas see students who are mostly from low-income families who often attend the madrasas because they receive education, boarding and often meals too for free. It further asserts that to target such institutes as ‘anti-national’ which exist as spaces that offer underprivileged students education, boarding, and meals en masse would be to violate the rights of the young children studying and availing resources, however meagre, at these institutions.
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