Non-Muslim children cannot be enrolled in Madarsas, says MP govt

Bhopal, Aug 17 (IANS) The government of Madhya Pradesh has said that Madaras and schools enrolled under Madara boards that receive funds from the state cannot force children to participate in "religious education."

A notification issued by the Education Department of the Madhya Pradesh government has mentioned that children enrolled with Madarsas (or under the Madarsa board) can take part in religious studies or activities with the consent of their parents only.

The state government has also decided to carry out a survey of non-Muslim children enrolled in schools run under the Madarsa board. This development comes following the recommendation by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Notably, NCPCR had earlier claimed that non-Muslim children are being enrolled in Madarsas for the purpose of Madarsas receiving grants from the state government.

As per its claim, non-Muslim children are enrolled with Madarsas to increase the number of students so that they will get more grants from the state government.

NCPCR Chairman Priyank Kanoongo reiterated that non-Muslim children enrolled with the schools run under the Madarsa board in Madhya Pradesh are being forced to take part in religious studies and activities."If the children belonging to the non-Muslim community are found enrolled with Madarsas, their grants will be cancelled and their registration will also be cancelled," the notice read.Over the past few months, there have been several instances when the names of non-Muslim children were found enrolled in Madarsas, and controversies erupted at different times in Madhya Pradesh.According to the NCPCR's report in June this year, over 9,000 Hindu children were found enrolled in Islamic seminaries (madrasas) in Madhya Pradesh. Subsequently, the Commission had demanded the Mohan Yadav-led BJP government to conduct a survey.