The development comes after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) received complaints of non-Muslim children being imparted religious education in some madrassas without their parents' consent.
NEW DELHI — The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written a letter to the Chief Secretaries of states and union territories asking them to conduct a detailed investigation of all government funded/recognised madrassas which admit non-Muslim children.
The Commission recommended mapping of all unmapped madrassas.
The development comes after the NCPCR received complaints of non-Muslim children being imparted religious education in some madrassas without their parents’ consent.
In the letter, the Commission stated that many children were enrolled in institutions like madrassas in various states across the country.
According to the NCPCR, there are three types of madrassas namely Recognized, Unrecognized and Unmapped.
The Commission noted that the madrassas which are funded or recognised by the government provided religious and to some extent formal education.
The letter further stated that in the view of the complaints received, it was observed that children from non-Muslim communities were studying in government funded/recognised madrassas.
Apart from this, the Commission said that some state governments provided scholarships to the students, which was a violation of Article 28(3) of the Constitution of India, that prohibits educational institutions from compelling children to participate in any religious education without parental consent.
The body instructed the Chief Secretaries to include physical verification of children attending such madrassas in their probe and said that all such children should be admitted to schools for formal education.
The Chief Secretaries have been ordered to submit the report within a month. — IANS
