Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to propose a new dress code for students studying in madrasas affiliated to the State Madarsa Board.
As part of its efforts to modernise madrasa education, the government plans to do away with the white kurta-pyjama that the students wear at present. The move comes after the government implemented NCERT books in the madrasas of Uttar Pradesh in an effort to bring the students on par with their counterparts in other schools.
Speaking to News18, State Minister for Minority Affairs Mohsin Raza said, “Our aim is to bring madrasas on par with other educational institutions. Till now, students in madrasas wore white kurta-pyjama, which is more or less symbolic of a particular faith. We will very soon propose a new dress code for them.”
Though Raza did not clarify what the new dress code would be, experts feel the students might be expected to wear pant-shirt.
However, hours after Raza's statement, his senior ministerial colleague rejected the claim, saying the government had not formed any new policy in this regard.
Cabinet minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said on Twitter, “Madarso mein dress code ko lekar sarkar ne koi nayi niti nirdharit nahi ki hai. Iss vishay ko lekar vibhaag ka koi mat nahi hai (The government has not formed any new policy pertaining to the dress code of the madrassas. On this issue, there is no view of the department).” Chaudhary is the Cabinet Minister for Minority Welfare, Muslim Waqf and Haj.
The state government has made changes in the syllabus to connect madrasas with the mainstream education system, following which NCERT books have been made mandatory.
The HRD ministry is working on a plan to revamp madrasa education in the country under the Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM), under which the institutions would have to get affiliated to either madrasa boards or state boards to be eligible for central government funds. The government is also planning to map madrasas in the country based on their Global Positioning System.
(With PTI inputs)
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