India’s Assam govt approves proposal to shut down all state-run madrasas, Sanskrit schools

The Assam government has approved a proposal to close down all government-run madrasas and Sanskrit "tol" (schools).

A bill in this regard will be tabled during the upcoming winter session of the state legislature, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said.

"Existing laws related to madrasas and Sanskrit tols will be repealed. A bill will be introduced in the next session of the Assembly," Patowary, who is also the spokesperson of the Assam government, told reporters in Guwahati on Sunday, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The winter session of the Assam Legislative Assembly begins from December 28.

The decision to shut down all the state-run madrasas and Sanskrit tols was taken during the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Patowary said.

Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had, in October, said there were 610 state-run madrasas across Assam and the government had been spending Rs 260 crore annually for these institutes.

The minister had also mentioned that all government-run madrasas would be converted to high schools and new admissions would be held for existing students as regular ones.

The infrastructure of Sanskrit tols would be used to convert them to centres of learning and research where Indian culture, civilisation and nationalism would be studied, he had said.

Senior BJP leader and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Aminul Haque Laskar had said madrasas run by private entities would not be shut down.

"These (private) madrasas will not be shut down as these have kept Muslims alive," Laskar had said while laying the foundation stone for a madrasa in Cachar district in November.