India’s child rights body, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has informed the Supreme Court that education in madrasas is “not comprehensive” and violates the Right to Education Act. The NCPCR argues that textbooks used in these institutions promote the “supremacy of Islam.”
In a written submission to the Supreme Court, the NCPCR stated, “The denial to extend the right to education to children by these institutions with minority status not just deprives the children of their most important fundamental right to education but… snowballs into depriving them of their fundamental right to equality before law.”
The Commission also claimed that the Taliban is “influenced by the religious and political ideologies” of the Darul Uloom Deoband Madrasa in Uttar Pradesh.
The submission was made as the Supreme Court reviews appeals against the Allahabad High Court's decision, which declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 “unconstitutional” for violating “the principle of secularism” and fundamental rights under Article 14 of the Constitution.
On April 5, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud stayed the High Court's order.
The NCPCR described madrasas as “unsuitable” for providing “proper education,” noting their “unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education” and “arbitrary mode of working,” which lacks a curriculum and evaluation procedures required under Section 29 of the Right to Education Act, 2009.
The Commission emphasised that although the RTE Act exempts madrasas, “children studying in them have never been exempted from the ambit of Article 21A of the Constitution of India in any judicial decision or constitutional interpretation.”
The Commission criticised the Uttar Pradesh Act as a “depriving tool,” arguing that children in minority institutions are denied essential educational rights, including midday meals, uniforms, and trained teachers.
“All those children who are not in formal schooling system are deprived of their fundamental right to elementary education including the entitlements such as midday meal, uniform, trained teachers etc.,” it said.
Additionally, the NCPCR found “objectionable content” in the Diniyat books included in the madrasa curriculum, stating, “On perusal of the Diniyat books as available on the website, it has been observed that as per the prescribed curriculum, the Madrasa Board through the books, are teaching texts that profess about Supremacy of Islam.”
The Commission argued that merely including a few NCERT books in the curriculum is “a mere guise in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education.”
