The Indian state prohibits government-run Islamic schools to teach religious scriptures

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Every government-run Islamic school in Assam, known locally as madrassas, will be converted by April, Minister of Education, Himanta Biswa Sarma, confirmed on Twitter on Wednesday.

In a speech to local politicians on the same day, Sarma positioned the law as a step to strengthen the Muslim community. He said it would “guarantee the right to equal education for all children and facilitate the path to higher education”.

Madrasas provide an educational system in which students are taught about the Quran and Islamic history in addition to general subjects such as mathematics and science.

According to the 2011 census, Muslims make up 34.22% of Assam’s total population.

Once the law is passed, the madrassas will become “secular schools” that will not educate students about the Quran, officials said.

Opposition politicians have criticized the move, claiming it reflects the hardening of anti-Muslim attitudes in the Hindu-majority country.

Debabrata Saikia, the state’s high opposition leader, claimed the new law was passed by the BJP to “consolidate more Hindu votes.”

“It’s a polarization tactic,” said Saikia. “(The BJP) is trying to do it in an official capacity. There’s no need for such a law.”

Opposition politicians from the Indian Congress Party and the All India United Democratic Front staged a strike while discussing the bill.

According to the chairman of Assam’s Madrassa Education Board, Imran Hussain, about 700 schools will be affected.

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“If parents have sent their children to madrassas just for theological studies, they may have a problem,” Hussain said. “But I believe in good education, and if (students) get general education, it will be good. It does not belittle the (Muslim) community. This is not a policy directed against Muslims.

“I hope that (the government) will increase the infrastructure in the madrassas with the new law.”

Religious discrimination in Assam became a topic of debate last year when nearly 2 million people in the 33 million state were not included in the country’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Supporters of the registry argued that the NRC would filter illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. But critics declined the move, stating that it was an attempt by the BJP to target the Muslim population of the state that had been around for generations but could not prove it with the required documentation.

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