State madrassa board yet to be recognised by govt varsities, leaves students with a bleak future

Dehradun

: The Uttarakhand Madrassa Education Board (UMEB), established in 2011, was formed under the aegis of the state government in order to bring recognition to the madrassa education in the state. However, students passing out from over 400 UMEB-affiliated madrassas have a bleak future as they are not eligible to take admission in neither state-run nor central-run universities and colleges, and enroll in regular courses like B. Tech, B.A, B.Com nor they can sit for government competition exams.

“I completed my Aalim course (equivalent to class 12) from a Doon-based madrassa in 2018. My parents are uneducated and were not informed about the lack of usage of the UMEB degree. Most of the pass-outs either fall back to their family business or start doing some odd jobs like plumbing and carpentry. Others become religious teachers, but those who wish to get a regular education from a government university are left heartbroken,” said Mohammad Zeshaan, a 2016 UMEB graduate who lives in Dehradun.

Zeeshan added, “I studied for a while at Dar-Ul-Uloom in Deoband, but gave exams in Uttarakhand. Had I given exams in Deoband, which is under the UP Madrassa Board, then my degree would have been recognised by higher educational institutions across the country. Now, I aim to become a proper gym trainer and take part in powerlifting competitions since it does not require any educational degree.”

Another state madrassa board student, Mohammad Arshad, said that he came to know about the madrassa degree when he went to apply for a passport.

“I studied in a madrassa based near ISBT in Dehradun. I did my Munshi course (equivalent to class X) in 2018. After the exams, I thought of doing an electrician course from ITI and going to Saudi Arabia for work. But when I went to apply for the passport, I got to know that the UK Madrassa Board is not recognised by the passport office and they marked me in the illiterate category. Also, I got to know that doing a course from ITI is now not possible. Now I have opened an electrical goods shop and aim to give class X exams from NIOS this year,” said Arshad.

There are over 400 madrassas that are affiliated with the UMEB while 42 of them are affiliated with the Uttarakhand Board of School Education (UBSE).

“Most of the students studying in madrassas come from humble and conservative backgrounds with parents having lack of awareness regarding the importance of education. In madrassas, Munshi is class X, Aamil is class XII, Qamil is under-grad while Fazil is post-grad,” said Mohammad Firoz, a former madrassa teacher who is currently posted as an Urdu teacher in Haridwar with the state education department.

“We have 419 madrassas under UMEB. The issue regarding equivalence certificates is being negotiated with the state government. We have worked upon the government’s recommendations and hopefully, after elections, our students will also be able to take admission in government universities and colleges,” said Abdul Yameen, deputy registrar of UMEB.

Notably, students passing out from the madrassa board of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are eligible to apply in government higher education institutions. The syllabus of most of the madrassa boards, including Uttarakhand, is relatively similar to the normal education board like CBSE as subjects like English, Hindi, maths and social science are taught to the madrassa students. Though, in most of the cases, the medium of writing in non-language subjects is Urdu.