Assam Assembly passes bill to abolish state-run Madrassas, convert them into schools

A bill, seeking to abolish all state-run Madrassas and transform them into regular schools, has been passed by Assam Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Taking to Twitter, Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed his happiness over the passage of the bill and said that all Madrassas being run under the government stand converted into regular educational institutes with effect on April 1, 2021.

"Glad that the Bill pertaining to repeal of Provincialisation of Madrassas has been passed, even as Assam Congress and AIUDF expectedly staged a walkout in Assembly. All Madrassas, being run under government, stand converted into regular educational institutes wef April 1, 2021," Sarma tweeted.

Sarma on Monday, the first day of the Assam Legislative Assembly session, tabled a Bill to repeal the provincial station of Madrassas in the state."We have introduced a Bill whereby all Madrassas will be converted into institutes of general education and no Madrassa will be established by the government in the future. We are happy to introduce this Bill to bring truly secular curriculum in the education system," Sarma had told reporters after the bill was tabled in the assembly.

On December 14, Sarma had said that in order to facilitate a secular education system in Assam, the state government has decided to make 'education secular' and 198 high madrasas and 542 other madrasas in the state will operate as any other general educational institute and will not give admission to students for theological studies.