Newly elected Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday (18 May) as one of his first directives has initiated the process of transition of dissolved Madrassa to general schools.
This directive was a promise made by the previous Sarbananda Sonowal led government.
The new BJP CM made it very clear that the process of transition of dissolved Madrassa to general schools must happen immediately as he goes for a comprehensive review of the functioning of the Education Department in presence of Education Minister Ranoj Pegu and Finance Minister Ajanta Neog.
Also, on the top of the priority list is the recruitment of teachers, particularly in provincialized and government schools and to meet the periodic gap, reports The Economic Times.
In December 2020, as the Opposition legislators protested, the Assam Assembly passed the Assam Repealing Bill 2020, that abolishes the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995 and the Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.
The bill ensured all government funding given to the madrassas ended, and that the existing over 620 madrassas would be converted to general schools by 1 April 2021 and was opposed by Islamists and left parties.
The current CM was then the Education and Finance Minister of Assam and Sarma, who introduced the bill said that it will make the academic environment of the state “secular” and the state government cannot run madrasas because “the government cannot spend public money for religious teaching”.
Before the bill was passed the state government of Assam was spending ₹260 crore annually for running the archaic madarassas whose only focus was on the religious study of Islam.
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