PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Fate of more than 50,000 Madara students in Uttarakhand hangs in balance following the dissolution of the Uttarakhand Madarsa Board and failure of the Madarsas to take necessary affiliation from the designated bodies. Following the order of the State government, the Uttarakhand Madarsa Board will stand dissolved from July 1 and following it all the minority institutions will be brought under the umbrella of the Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority. There are 422 Madarsas in the State. As per the government directive, the Madarsas teaching students from class IX to XII are required to get affiliation with the Uttarakhand Vidhyalayi Shiksha Parishad (UVSP) while those having students from classes I to VIII are needed to be get registered with the district education department concerned. The secretary of the UVSP Vinod Kumar Simalti told The Pioneer that so far no Madarsa has approached them for affiliation. He however added that the UVSP will provide necessary affiliation promptly on the recommendation of the Minority Education Authority.
When contacted, the chairman of the Uttarakhand Waqf Board, Shadab Shams told The Pioneer that the Uttarakhand State Minority Education Authority should take up the initiative on part of all the Madarsas who are functioning as per the norms to get the necessary affiliation from the UVSP and the district authorities concerned. Expressing happiness at the decision of the Pushkar Singh Dhami government to dissolve Uttarakhand Madarsa Board, Shams said that the decision will help thousands of the Madarsa students who will now have the choice of pursuing religious studies and making career in any other field. He said that now modern education along with religious education will be imparted to the Madarsa student which will empower the students. “Now the Madarsa students will also come to know about Lord Ram and Baba Saheb B R Ambedkar. Now the students will also study science and modern education,’’ he said.
