Guwahati, Aug 29: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said students from madrassas shut down have already been admitted to general schools and that initiatives have taken, along with support from the Muslim community, to help reform the education system in the state.
Over 700 government madrassas have been closed down by the Sarma-led government in the state.
Speaking to mediapersons, the chief minister said, “Already, kids of the closed-down madrassas have been admitted to general schools…their parents have been taken into confidence and they are very happy. The local community too is supporting the government’s initiatives.”
“The government is working in tandem with the community. Madrassa institutions are working with the state government and they have assured to abide by government rules in Assam…so we are reforming madrassas by taking the community into confidence,” the chief minister said.
Sarma’s comments came in the wake of the Barpeta district administration “evicting” a madrassa (by the name of Shaikhul Hind Mahmudul Hasan Jamiul Huda Islamic Academy) at Dhakaliapara in the lower Assam district on Monday morning.
The administration had on Sunday issued an eviction notice to the madrassa authorities after a teacher of the madrassa was suspected to have alleged links with a Bangladesh-based terror outfit.
Besides, the administration claimed that the madrassa was constructed illegally on government land in 2018.
“This is the second madrassa we have evicted. As a matter of fact, whenever we get complaints about fundamentalist activities carried out from such institutions, we have closed them down,” the chief minister informed.
Earlier this month, a madrassa in central Assam’s Morigaon district was demolished in the wake of orders of the local district administration, which declared it “unfit as a structure.”
It may be mentioned that a relentless crackdown is underway by the state police force on terror modules with several persons suspected to have been allegedly linked with the terror outfits such as the Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Bangladesh-based group, Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), and promoting fundamentalist activities, already detained and under interrogation.
Assam director-general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta had on Thursday warned against an “international conspiracy” to carry out fundamentalist activities in the state.