Context: Recently, Assam Assembly has passed a Bill to convert state-run madrasas into regular schools - removing them from the status of centres for religious education.

The Assam Repealing Bill, 2020 was brought to repeal two existing Acts

1. The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation) Act, 1995.
2. The Assam Madrassa Education (Provincialisation of Services of Employees and Re-Organisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.

Key Points

• The new legislation also covers private-run madrasas that are run under the state boards although private-run madrasas which are not under any state board will remain outside its purview.
• In English, the term madrasah or "madrasa" usually refers more narrowly to Islamic institutions of learning.
• Historians and other scholars also employ the term to refer to historical madrasah institutions throughout the Muslim world, which is to say a college/school where Islamic law was taught along with other secondary subjects.
• The Madrasas run by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) will have ‘madrasa’ dropped from their names and function as regular schools.
• The staff of the madrasas, especially those teachers teaching religious subjects, will be retained. They will be either trained to teach other subjects or in some other capacity.
• It is said to be a move to empower the Muslim community.
• The bill is being said to follow the ideals of B R Ambedkar. He had said that religious instruction should have no place in curriculum.
• The Quran should not be taught on government expenditure because the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita or texts of other religions are not taught on it.
• The government spends Rs. 260 crore on madrasas and the Sanskrit “tols” (sanskrit learning centres) annually.
• Further, secularism is one of the ‘basic features’ of the Constitution.
• The government aspires that in the future a law is made to make private madrasas teach science, maths and other subjects along with religious subjects.

Additional Information
Constitutional and Legal Provisions Related to Minorities

• The term "Minority" is not defined in the Indian Constitution. However, the Constitution recognises religious and linguistic minorities.

Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same.

• It grants protection to both religious minorities as well as linguistic minorities.
• However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article includes minorities as well as the majority.

Article 30: All minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

• The protection under Article 30 is confined only to minorities (religious or linguistic) and does not extend to any section of citizens (as under Article 29).

Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. However, the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution.

• It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India.
• It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.

National Commission for Minority Education Institution (NCMEI) Act, 2004

• It gives the minority status to the educational institutions on the basis of six religious communities notified by the government under the NCMEI Act, 2004-- Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains.