Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The future of over tens of thousands of madrasa students in Uttar Pradesh hangs in the balance after the state government scrapped the Fazil and Kamil courses without offering alternative arrangements. This move has left students in despair and worried about the implications.
Sibtain Raza, a student at Jamia Farooqia in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district, is among those affected students by the disbanding of ‘Kamil’ and ‘Fazil’ degrees.
Raza said that he wanted to become a teacher after acquiring ‘Kamil’ (graduation) and ‘Fazil’ (Post-graduation) degrees from the government-aided Islamic madrasa. However, his dream was shattered when the Uttar Pradesh government disbanded both degrees without making any alternative arrangements for all those students who were pursuing these courses.
“The government has disbanded our degrees. It’s a great loss for us. Both degrees are not of any use for us anymore. We don’t know whether anything will be done for us in this regard. I’m not alone among such students. We will not be able to get jobs anymore,” said Raza from his hometown Varanasi while speaking to Clarion India.
Currently, around 28,000 students are pursuing the first, second, and third years of Kamil courses, and 9,000 students are enrolled the first and second years of Fazil at 16,460 Islamic madrasas recognized by the Madrasa Education Board in Uttar Pradesh.
These degrees were abruptly ended when R.P. Singh, the Registrar of the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board, recently issued a letter to all district minority welfare officers in the state, directing them to stop the teaching of Kamil and Fazil in the madrasas.
“After the Supreme Court declared the Kamil and Fazil degrees unconstitutional, teaching or instruction of these courses cannot be conducted in madrasas. The matter of students enrolled in these courses is currently with the High Court, and a decision will be made after the court’s ruling,” reads the letter.
The trouble began in Marach 2024 when Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh had struck down Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Act 2004, an act which created legal framework for the madrasas in the state. In November last year, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court order and upheld the validity of the Act. However, the apex court declared the degrees of ‘Kamil’ and ‘Fazil’ as unconstitutional saying that Islamic seminaries cannot provide degrees and doing so will be violations of the University Grants Commission Act.
Following the court order directing to disband these courses, Muslim groups have sought the alternative arrangements from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for the students who were pursuing these courses. Teachers Association Madaris Arabiya (TAMA), a group which had challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court, said that it will again move the court if the authorities don’t come up with alternative arrangements for the affected students.
“The students who have already written exams meant for this degree can go nowhere now. Kamil is a 3-year course. The future of those students who wrote the exams of first and second years, hangs in balance. If the government does not take a decision in this regard, we will file a PIL (Public Interest Litigation,” said Dewan Zaman Khan, who is general secretary of the TAMA.
Khan argued the Supreme Court had previously directed to make alternative arrangements for students when it had disbanded some degrees in another case, which was cited in the madrasa order to strike down Kamil and Fazil degrees. The court should also pass similar order in the madrasa case.
Similarly, Raza, who had enrolled in the first year of Fazil degree in March 2024 after completing his three-year course Kamil, demanded that these degrees should be affiliated with any national university.
“We were dismayed when we heard about the disbanding of the degrees. Our hard work went in vain. We had written the exams after doing hard-works. When your efforts go in vain, it pains a lot. This is a kind of injustice,” he said.
“The government should affiliate these degrees to any university. It will help us. The government can take a step in this regard. The government should be concerned about this. There are thousands of students affected by this decision. The future of all these students will be destroyed,” Raza added.
Muslim leaders have not much hope from Yogi Adityanath government to take steps in favour of these students.
“It is unfortunate that the government is not taking our issues seriously. We had won our case in the Supreme Court but the issues related to the Fazil and Kamil was not resolved. Had the government taken it seriously, it would affiliate these degrees to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University. We are making efforts but it is our misfortune that the government ignores our issues,” Khan said.
