Shimla: The Himachal Minority Welfare Council on Wednesday asked for suitable legislation to make it mandatory for bringing madrasas education curriculum within the fold of formal education, so as to improve employability of Muslim youth.
Syed Naseer Ahmend Gelani, chairman Minority Welfare Council Himachal told media persons that many madrasas in the state were reluctant to get themselves registered.
“Only six madrasas in the state were registered and they along with religious education were imparting education in other subjects also,” he disclosed.
While government funding had enabled computer education to be imparted in the registered madarasas, funding for most unregistered madrasas comes from donations collected outside the state, he said.
“There are 335 masjids in Himachal and about 100 madrasas that are not registered but are functioning and impart only religious education in Arabic and Farsi,” he disclosed.
Gelani, who is also a national executive member of BJP minority morcha, asked for a law that would make it mandatory to impart education in other streams of knowledge in madrasas so that young men and women from the minority community could avail more employment opportunities.
He said that the minority council intended to set up a hostel for hundred students in Shimla, which would enable them to avail better education facilities.
To clear illegal occupation of the Shimla masjids, the council proposed to set up a labour hostel.
Terrorism was a grave issue and political meddling in the madrasas educational system was responsible for much of it, Gelani said.
The Deoband scholar claimed to be on the hit list of Kashmiri militants and said that the Deoband institution had issued a fatwa against him, disowning his religious identity.
For containing terrorism, the Muslim scholar sought more empowerment of the security forces to act timely and effectively.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
