New Delhi: The Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Maulana Waliullah Saeedi Falahi has strongly condemned efforts to forcibly change the status and identity of madrassas as well as to interfere in the educational journey of madrasa students in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

In a statement to the media, the JIH Vice President said, “Acquiring religious education is not only a fundamental right of every individual but is also to make a better society. In such a situation, neither the government nor its subordinate departments have the moral and legal right to forcibly remove the students getting free education in the madrasas and send them to other regular government schools. Under Section 30(1), religious minorities have a fundamental right to establish and manage their educational institutions. Similarly, the RTE Act has also given the madrasas the right to run their system independently and benefit students. In such a situation, the interference of institutions like NCPCR in madrasas is illegal and unconstitutional. By ignoring the real problems of children, NCPCR is unnecessarily getting involved in an issue which is beyond its scope.”

Maulana Waliullah Saeedi Falahi demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government should immediately withdraw its illegal circular under which the district officials have been instructed to transfer the students of non-approved madrasas (according to government figures, there are 8449 such madrasas in the state) to government schools. While highlighting the services of madrasas, he said “Crores of people in our country are deprived of necessities like food, clothing, shelter, education, health and other facilities. Madrasas are discharging yeomen service by providing free education along with free food, and accommodation to crores of children. Through its systematic and strong educational system, madrasas have produced many generations of important leaders who fought for our freedom and rendered valuable services to humanity. In such a scenario, this diktat of the state government is not only a sinister attempt to damage the established historical system of madrasas but also an unconstitutional violation of the rights of lakhs of madrasa students and their parents. We appeal to all the justice-loving citizens of the country to raise their voice against this one-sided cruel action and stop it.”