Assam government to eliminate Maktab word from all government schools
Guwahati/IBNS: After the announcement of converting all government-run Madrasas and Sanskrit Tols to general high school and higher secondary schools, now the Assam government has decided to delete the ‘Maktab’ word from the government schools title.
Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has already issued an order to eliminate the Arabic term ‘Maktab’ from the government schools.
In Arabic, Maktab means school and there are 63 government-run schools in Assam have been using the Arabic term ‘Maktab’.
The Assam minister said that during the regime of Syed Muhammad Saadulla when he was the Chief Minister of Assam, some primary schools for Maktaba education were set up.
“In those schools now teachers don’t impart or provide Maktaba education to the students. It has become general lower primary schools. So we have advised all the school managing committee to delete the name Maktab from the school names. The government has issued an order and I think all the schools will delete the name Maktab from their school title within seven days,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Earlier, the Assam Minister said that the state government has decided to convert all government-run Madrasas and Sanskrit Tols to the general high school and higher secondary schools.
“Because of the state as a secular institution, we can’t fund religious teaching. The state uses to run certain Madrasa and Sanskrit Tol. As a result, the number has gone up almost 1200 Madrasas and around 200 Sanskrit Tols as of now. Mainly religious teaching are happened in these institutions along with the general curriculum. We don’t have any independent board to run these things. As a result, a lot of problems are coming up, because these people get certificates which are equivalent to matric (Class 10) and higher secondary (Class 12),” Sarma said.
The Assam minister also said that, the government has no issue with the normal Madrasas which are being run by various social organizations or other NGOs.
“These types of Madrasas will function, but they will function within a regulatory framework. We are bringing a law, where the Madrasa has to function under a regulatory framework and they have to disclose the number of students. They have to compulsorily teach general subjects along with the religious subject,” Sarma said.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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