Guwahati: The BJP-led government in Assam has decided to pull down shutters on the state-run Madrasas and Sanskrit ‘tols’ (centres of learning).
The government has now decided to transform all these centres of religious learnings into regular schools within next six months.
Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that religious texts cannot be taught using the government funds.
“It is not the job of a secular government to teach religious texts,” Sarma said.
It may be recalled that the BJP government had disbanded madrassas as well as the Sanskrit Tol Board and merged it with the Secondary Board of Education Assam in 2017, it now plans to shut them down completely.
There are about 1200 madrassas and 200 tols in Assam and Sarma told NDTV that a lot of problems have cropped up because these get a certificate equivalent to matriculation or high secondary school.
“That is why the state government has decided to convert all madrassas and Sanskrit tols into regular schools,” Sarma told NDTV.
Sarma said that purpose of the entire exercise was to ensure that no child misses out on formal education.
