Madrasa Education Boards

Though madrasas are mostly funded by the public donations, there are other sources from which they get funding. So, speaking in terms of finance, there are two kinds of madrasas in India: autonomous madrasas that are run by public donations and government affiliated madrasas that are financed by state governments.Madrasa Aliya in Kolkata, is the first example of such madrasas, which was started by the British regime in 1780.

In the last fifty years, Madrasas Education Boards have come up in Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 110950 students are enrolled in 421 madrasas affiliated to West Bengal Madrasa Education Board, Kolkata.<1> In 1991, 13406 students appeared in different examinations conducted by the Board.

Table: Number of students and madrasas affiliated to the West Bengal Madrasa Board

Type of the Affiliated Madrasas	No of Madrasas (till March 1992)	No of Students
Senior Madrasa	93	19450
High Madrasa	174	56500
Junior High Madrasa	140	32500
Junior Madrasa	13	2500

(Source: Report of Education Commission, West Bengal, August, 1992.)

Senior madrasa is considered to be the equivalent to 12^th standard of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. In Bihar, about 1600 madrasas are affililiated to the Bihar Madrasa Education Board which arranges for the salary of those who teach in these madrasas. Number of madrasas affiliated to UP Madrasa Education Board stands at 375.Their educational system comes under its supervision. Faculties of 229 madrasas draw their salary from the Board. The Orissa Madrasa Board, an employer of 254 teachers, has 79 madrasas under its control. Its annual budget (1994-95) is estimated at Rs.63, 83,300. Unlike other states, madrasas in Assam, like other secular educational institutions, are directly affiliated to the Secondary Board and Senior Secondary Board. So; both the Boards conduct examinations for madrasas.In the state, there are three types of madrasas: High madrasas (standard V to X), Aaliya Madrasas (class I to BA.) and Title Madrasas (from B.A. onwards).<2> Similarly, in Maharashtra some have got themselves recognized by the Maharashtra Board of Secondary Education and their students appear in the common SSC Examination of the Board. The certificates issued by all the above-mentioned Board are recognized with some of the government universities and enable the certificate holder to get higher modern education also. The teachers of madrasa board’s affiliated madrasas usually get their salary from the respective boards.<3>

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<1> The new Budhadeb government in West Bengal has raised the status of the West Bengal Madrasa Board to that of a separate misnistry.Earlier the Board used to work under the Ministry of Education.Abdus Sattar; the CPM MLA from Aamdanga has been sworn as the first minister of this newly constituted Ministry for Madrasa Education. Of more than thousand madrasas of the State, only 506 are affiliated to the Board while 70 % of the Muslims of the State rely on madrasas for their primary and secondary education. (Rashtriya Sahara, the Urdu Daily, New Delhi edition, dated: May21, 05.06).

<2> Qamruddin, Dr. (1996), Hindustan KI Deeni Darsgahen (Kul Hind Survey), Hamdard Education Society, New Delhi.p78-80.

<3>.Ibid,p78

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