Recently it was reported that the Yogi government had been taking steps to ensure transparency in the state funded madrasas. These included having to register on the newly launched “Madrasa Portal” of the state government. The madrasas were required to upload the details of the teachers, support staff and also were required to provide infrastructure details along with photographs.
During the launch of the online portal the UP Waqf Minister, Mohsin Raza had stated that they had received many complaints of irregularities in the madrasas. Now reports have claimed that out of a total 19,000 madrasas in the state, just 3000 have registered themselves on the portal.
As a response to this lackadaisical approach by madarsas, the Yogi government has reportedly stopped the funding of 46 fully aided madrasas in the state. These 46 madrasas belong to Kanpur, Kushinagar, Kannauj, Mau, Azamgarh, Maharajganj, Siddhartha Nagar, Mahoba, Shravasti, Banaras, Faizabad, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Barabanki, Sant Kobirnagar and Jhansi districts. There are about 560 fully aided madrasas in the state.
It turns out that a committee comprising of a district magistrate, district minority officer and basic education officer had in April sought the details of the aided madrasas the funding of these 46 madrasas, which was consequently stopped after the lapses were detected.
These irregularities had reportedly been revealed after a 2 month long investigation and the issue seems to be that these institutions weren’t following the necessary infrastructure guidelines. These madrasas were reportedly being run in rooms smaller or larger than the prescribed limit and some were even being run in verandas. These madrasas used to receive an average grant of at-least about 3-4 lakh rupees per month and it also included the salaries of the teachers.
The total grant aid stopped by the government reportedly amounts to about Rs 2 crores. The information revealed on Wednesday also claimed that salary of teachers has also been stopped. It remains to be seen if the funding is resumed if and when these madrasas manages to comply with the necessary regulations.