Assam to shut state run Madrasa & Sanskrit tols: State Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

GUWAHATI: Government in Assam will soon disband State run Madrasa and Sanskrit tols to introduce reforms that can resonate more with mainstream learning.

State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that to mainstream Madrasa education, the government is disbanding the Madrasa Education directorate and making it part of the Secondary Education directorate.

The Sanskrit Board too will be dissolved and the academic part will be handed over to the Board of Secondary Education,” he said.

In a post on Facebook, he had said, “We are restructuring to reform.”

Sarma’s announcement came 5 months after he had asked madrasas to shift their weekly off-day from Friday to Sunday similar to what other educational institutions follow. Sarma was criticized for saying that madrasas remain shut on Fridays in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and not in India.

Earlier in the day, the State Education Minister told the Assembly that the State government wanted to “mainstream” madrasas and Sanskrit tols and introduce modern technical learning like computers in these institutions.

Sarma had said, “We want to introduce modern learning like computers in these educational institutes. For doing this, we will have to change the existing structure”.

While the Sanskrit tols would be looked after by the Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit & Ancient Studies University, madrasa education would be placed under the state Board of Secondary Education, he said.

With nine schools under it, Assam had set up the Madrasa Education Board in 1934. After Independence, it was renamed as State Madrasa Education Board. Assam has over 700 madrasas under it.

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