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There is a very bad news for thousands of students studying in madrassas of Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court has declared the ‘Kamil’ (graduation) and ‘Fazil’ (post graduation) degrees of the State Madrasa Board illegal. The court says that only the universities formed under the UGC Act have the right to grant degrees. The Madrasa Board was violating the rules by doing this. After this decision, the career of about 32 thousand students is in danger. The students who were doing this course for years are now stuck in limbo. Seeing their studies becoming useless, students are now looking for new options. Under compulsion, many students are taking fresh admission for BA and MA in universities. The Supreme Court has called it ‘unconstitutional’.
Fear of wasting the year and new race: The story of Saqlain Raza, a student of Varanasi’s Madrasa Jamia Farooquia, tells the reality of everything. He had passed the first year of Fazil. But now they are worried about the lack of value of the degree. To save his future, he will now do BA from Kashi Vidyapeeth. Speaking to PTI, he said that his precious years spent in Kamil and Fazil were wasted. Same is the condition of Mohammad Saad Nizami of Mau. They are not able to understand whether to leave their studies now or start some small business. Ghulam Masih of Siddharth Nagar has now decided to take a university degree. However, he is hopeful that some solution will be found from the ongoing hearing in the court.
Legal battle to connect with the university: A legal effort is also underway to save the students’ years. Teachers Association Madaris-e-Arabia has appealed to the Supreme Court. Their demand is that Madrasa students should be linked to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Bhasha University of Lucknow. With this, their examinations will be regularized and they will get a valid degree. General Secretary of the organization, Diwan Saheb Zaman Khan said that most of the children of Madrasa are poor. They cannot study in private colleges by paying expensive fees. The court has sought answers from the government and UGC in this matter.
Government’s stance and voices of protest: UP government minister Danish Azad Ansari has given assurance to the students. He said that the government is considering finding a solution to this issue. There will be no harm to those who are doing jobs on these degrees. Whereas Kunwar Basit Ali of BJP Minority Morcha has a slightly different opinion. He believes that the syllabus of Madarsa Board is not of university level. Therefore, it would be impractical to link students to the university in the middle of the session. If they have to be added then fresh admission should be taken. Now it has to be seen what decision the government takes regarding the future of thousands of students.
