Akhilesh Yadav slams BJP after child rights panel suggests halting madrasa funding

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the ruling BJP for selectively targeting minority institutions after a report by a child rights panel called for stopping state funding to madrasas.
“BJP does everything that spreads hatred in society. If they have a problem with education, they should have taken steps to improve the quality of education. All institutions, whether it is madrasa or any other institution, if they had the power, they would have closed Sanskrit schools also. They want control, they want to keep everything under their control,” Yadav said.
The Samajwadi Party chief was reacting to a report by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which raised concerns about the functioning of madrasas and called for an end to state funding unless these institutions comply with the Right to Education (RTE) Act.
In its latest report titled ‘Guardians of Faith or Oppressors of Rights?’, the apex child rights body said the exemption of madrasas from the RTE Act has deprived children attending these institutions of quality education.
The NCPCR report states that while Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution protect the rights of minorities to preserve their culture and establish educational institutions, these provisions have, in a way, led to discrimination against madrasas students, who miss out on formal education.
The report pointed out that while the primary focus of madrasas is religious education, many do not provide the essential components of formal education such as adequate infrastructure, trained teachers, and proper academic curricula.
The report also cited 2021-22 data of Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), which states that a large number of Muslim children are out of school, with an estimated 1.2 crore children not receiving formal education.
The report also said there was a lack of accountability in many madrasas, where physical safety concerns, such as poor infrastructure and cases of child rights violations, have been reported.