Apex Court’s Seminal Verdict In Education Field

Madarsas are educational institutions, often part of a mosque, that teach Islamic studies, including the Quran, Hadith, Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and others. They are in the news following a Supreme Court verdict on November 5, upholding the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act 2004. Doing so, the apex court set aside the Allahabad High Court judgement which had struck it down earlier.

The Act provided for a legislative framework under which the UP Board of Madrasa Education Act 2004 established different levels of education up to higher education. Under the Act, the Board prepares and prescribes syllabi, course material, and conducts exams for all the aforementioned courses. The Allahabad High Court on March 22, 2024declared the UP Board of Madarsa Education Act 2004 as ultra vires the constitution, ruling that it violated the principle of secularism.

When the matter came up before it, after hearing lengthy arguments, the Supreme Court this week observed that the High Court was wrong to rule that Madarsa Act violated Article 21A, on grounds that the Right to Education Act does not apply to minority educational institutions. The Supreme Court viewed that madarsas are educational bodies and that education falls in the Concurrent List which is part of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The List has 52 subjects that both the Union and State governments can legislate on. Thus, the court broadened the scope of the term ‘Education’, saying it includes institutions that provide religious education, too.

Just because the education involves religious teachings or instructions does not qualify madarsas to remain outside the purview of the legislative competence of the State. It is a significant verdict in that the SC said a state can legislate to require religious minority institutions to impart secular education of requisite standards without destroying their minority character. Why? It is the positive obligation of the State to ensure that the students studying in recognized madarsas attain a level of competency so as to actively participate in society and earn a living. Students shall have access to formal education which the state intends to provide and cannot be compelled to participate in religious instructions.

What is to be understood here is religious instruction cannot be a substitute for mainstream education.Thus, the right of minorities to administer their educational institutions is not absolute and that the state does have an interest in maintaining the standards of education in minority educational institutions and may impose regulation as a condition for grant of aid or recognition.

The apex court also declared declared the Kamil and Fazil degrees, equivalent to graduation and post-graduation awarded by the Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Board, as unconstitutional as they contravene the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act which governs the standards for higher education across the country.A state legislation cannot seek to regulate higher education. However, the State government must come to the rescue of over 25,000 students currently pursing these degrees and shift them to any recognised university.

The SC struck a fine balance between the minority right to establishinstitutions and the obligation of the state to setthe standards of education. The verdict of the Supreme Court is seminal and all the educational institutions receiving state aid must abide by state regulations.The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongohad urged state funding to madarsas be stopped as they were depriving poor Muslim children of formal education. He deplored that impoverished families were pressuring children into religious schooling over secular education. The UP Act aims at equitable educational opportunities for all children and is rightly upheld by the apex court.