Assam Govt Introduces Bill To Repeal Provincialisation of Madrassa

As the three-day Assam assembly session begins today, as many as twelve bills will be tabled for its passage, state education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed on the introducing a Bill to repeal Provincialisation of Madrassa.

Taking to social media today, the minister said:

Today I shall introduce a Bill to repeal Provincialisation of Madrassa. Once the Bill is passed, the practice of running Madrassa by the Government in Assam will come to an end, a practice which was started by Muslim League govt in pre-Independence Assam, in 1935.

Earlier in December, Sarma had announced that the government will convert all state-run madrasas and Sanskrit tols (schools) into general institutes in an attempt to make education secular and inclusive.

The religious subject of 50 marks on Quran would be discarded from the existing curriculum.

Currently, the state has 198 High Madrasa schools under the Secondary Education Board Assam (SEBA). Moreover there are 542 Madrassas under the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC), including four Arabic colleges, 138 senior madrasas and 230 pre-senior madrasas.