Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday that if the state government is bearing the cost of teaching the Quran in madrassas, then Bible and Bhagavad Gita should also be taught by the government. Sarma said, "In my opinion, teaching 'Quran' can't happen at the cost of government money, if we have to do so then we should also teach both the Bible and Bhagavad Gita. So, we want to bring uniformity and stop this practice."
He announced that all the state-run madrassas will be converted into regular schools as the Assam goverment will be shuting madrassas down. Meanwhile, in certain cases teachers will be transferred to state government schools.
"All State-run madrassas will be converted into regular schools or in certain cases teachers will be transferred to state-run schools and madrassas will be shut down. A notification will be released in November," said Sarma.
The decision to shut down state-run madrassas was taken during a discussion on budgetary allocation for the education department when some legislators were demanding provincialisation of madrasas.
Besides, Sanskrit tols (schools) will also be shut down as it proceeds to clamp down on religious education with public money.
Assam has 614 recognised madrasas, and 17 are Urdu medium.
