The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), on Wednesday (13th March), sought an inquiry into the ‘open schools’ established by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an Islamic organisation with the support of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The NCPCR stated that the Islamic organisation was committing an organised crime by keeping the minor children studying in Madarsa away from formal education by allegedly providing them Islamic education under the guise of ‘open schools’.
The National Institute of Open Schooling, formerly National Open School, is a national-level board of education in India, controlled and managed by the Government of India. The NCPCR has discovered that Jamiat Ularna-i-Hind has established Jamiat Open School on the lines of NIOS for Madrasa students, enabling them to pursue ‘mainstream’ education.
Dr. Shoaib Raza Khan, Assistant Director, NIOS has also been quoted saying that it is a path-breaking initiative and that NIOS is ready to extend all possible cooperation to Jamiat. The NCPCR has sought an immediate inquiry into the matter saying that there is no need to offer education through open schooling for the elementary level when the government has already established around 15 lakh schools in the country providing access to the best elementary education.
The NCPCR questioned the need to establish a new ‘open school’ by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind for Madarsa students and asked to discontinue the courses. The NCPCR further suggested that the children studying in Madarsa must be enrolled in the formal education system given their right under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.
“All those children who are not in the formal schooling system are deprived of their educational rights including the entitlements such as Midday Meal, uniform, and trained teachers. NIOS shall immediately discontinue these courses and take steps to enroll these children in formal schooling,” the letter by NCPCR read.
“By not letting these children get formal schooling and violating the Constitution and the Law, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is involved in an organised crime against children and as it seems, NIOS is partnering with Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind by providing an opportunity to institutionalize and legalize this violation of child rights in an organised manner. You are requested to set an inquiry into the Officers of NIOS who are involved in legalising this violation by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind,” the letter added.
As per the website of the Jamait Open School, the authorities at the school intend to impart education to Madarsa students or formal education drop-outs to perform their role as religious leaders more effectively. While the Islamic organisation claims that it wishes the Madarsa students to take formal education, the official website asserts that the authorities there intend to make Madarsa students religious leaders.
Further, the subjects recommended for the Madarsa students are only Urdu, Arabic, Psychology, Business Studies, and Indian History. And a pre-requisite to gain admission in such a school is to be a person from any Islamic institution, a Madarsa graduate, or a drop out of the formal education stream.
The Commission has further asked the NIOS to produce all the details of Madasa or any other institution associated with Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, a list of teachers along with their qualifications, and the number of children who have been admitted to these institutions under this system to date.
NCPCR has been long making efforts to get the Madarsa students into the formal education system. It has previously requested all the Indian states and UTs to investigate all government-funded and recognised madrasas that allow non-Muslim youngsters. The NCPCR had also requested that the investigation include physical verification of the youngsters before admitting them to schools.
Recently, on 5th January 2024, it summoned the chief secretaries (CS) of 11 states and union territories (UTs) for the delay in complying with its directive to identify non-Muslim children, including Hindu children, studying in madrasas so that they could be admitted to schools. The summons had been issued to CS of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Telangana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The central body states that Article 28(3) of the Constitution prohibits educational institutions from obligating children to participate in religious teaching without parental assent. It stated that madrasas, as institutions, are primarily responsible for providing religious education to children and that it has been learned that those madrasas funded or recognised by the government provide religious education and very little formal education to children.
