Knowledge of Urdu not a must for teachers in UP Madrasas; Adityanath govt does away with mandatory clause

If you do not know Urdu, it doesn’t matter, you can still find a job in Madrasas. Welcome to Ajay Bisht’s land where the state government has mooted a proposal to do away with the mandatory clause stating that knowledge of Urdu was needed for recruitment of teachers in state-run Madrasas.

Earlier, knowledge of Urdu was a must for appointment of teachers in Madrasas.

A senior official told this reporter that it is not mandatory for madrasa teachers to know Urdu now. The Government has proposed a plan to do away with the condition of proficiency in Urdu language for the appointment of teachers in madrasa.

The voices of opposition have started emanating from all quarters. The Muslim clerics say it is an attempt by the Yogi government to saffronise Madrasa education. “Can you ever think of a teacher in Madarsa who cannot read or write Urdu? From Primary to fazil (post-graduation) students in Madrasas use Urdu as a language of communication. How can one subjugate Urdu now,” Maulana Bashir Tauqi, said.

The government official said that the matter was under the consideration by the state government for quite some time. “The blueprint of the project is ready. The Minority welfare department has been asked to prepare a cabinet note and the same has been sent to the government for further action”, he said.

As per the proposal, the appointment of teachers will be limited for the appointment of teachers of science and mathematics but later on this can be extended. The Government argument is that many posts of science and mathematics teachers were lying vacant because of the mandatory clause of Urdu as there were not enough applicants who were well conversant with Urdu.

“Thus, we were forced to take this decision. This is in favour of students,” Mohsin Raza, Minister of State of Minority Welfare said.

The clerics say that government is pressurizing madrasas because of the grants it gives to them.  At present, the state government gives grants to 560 madrasas across Uttar Pradesh. The annual grant to madrasas during the current fiscal 2019-20 is ₹844 crore. The aided madrasas are registered and recognised by the UP Madarsa board.

Of the total 560 government aided madrasas around 350 madarsa impart education from primary to Fazil (post graduate course). The madrasas, on an average, get a grant of ₹3 or ₹4 lakh per month, which includes the salaries of 15 to 17 teachers. The total number of students in madrasas in aided and unaided madrasas registered with the UP Madrasa board is around 26 Lakh.

Clerics say it is the second attempt by Yogi government to cut madrasas to size. In 2018 the BJP government had launched a portal for the mandatory registration of approximately 19,000 madrasas across state. “We followed the order and the compliance was cent per cent. But the government then came up with a finding that of the total 19,000 non aided madarsa around 4,200 madrasas were non existent. This is a lie,” the Maulana said.