The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated an exercise to track the source of money that is reaching over 1500 unrecognized madrasas in the Indo-Nepal border areas. Under this exercise, information regarding the number of students studying in such unrecognized madrasas will also be collected.
In a letter dated January 31, 2023, Jagmohan Singh, the registrar of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board, gave district minority welfare officers of various districts directions to provide information on the number of students as well as the income and expense records of madrasas operating at the borders.
Madrasas are to be categorized on the basis of student strength
The first category includes madrasas with between 100 and 200 students, the second category includes madrasas with between 200 and 500 students, and the last category includes madrasas with more than 500 students.
According to Ashutosh Pandey, the minority welfare officer in Gorakhpur, a letter to this effect had been received, and the exercise’s goal was to update the record of the Madrasa Board website.
These unrecognized madrasas are located in the districts of Balrampur, Shravasti, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, and Lakhimpur Kheri.
It is notable that in September-October last year, the state government conducted a survey to gather information regarding the unrecognised madrasas operating in the state.
During the 46-day survey among the many aspects, information regarding the funding received by these madrassas was also collected. The majority of these madrasas claimed to receive zakat from Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad, but there was no record of the money reaching these madrasas.
In October last year, it was revealed in a state government survey that there are over 7,500 unrecognised madrasas in the state. The Uttar Pradesh government had on September 1 announced that it would survey unrecognized madarsas of the state to ascertain information such as details of teachers and students, curriculum, and its affiliation with any non-government organization.
Last year, OpIndia published a series of detailed ground reports regarding the mushrooming of mazars and other illegal religious structures along the sensitive Indo-Nepal border.
