‘Trace source of money reaching madrasas on Indo-Nepal border’

Around 1500 unrecognised madrasas are running in Balrampur, Shravasti, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich and Lakhimpur Kheri districts along the Indo-Nepal border

The state government has started an exercise to trace sources of the money reaching around 1500 unrecognised madrasas running along the Indo-Nepal border and collect information regarding number of students studying there.

Gorakhpur minority welfare officer Ashutosh Pandey said a letter to this effect had been received. (For Representation)

Registrar, Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Board, Jagmohan Singh in his letter dated January 31, 2023 directed district minority welfare officers of various districts to provide the details about the strength of students along with income and expenses records of madrasa functioning at the borders.

Madrasas have to be categorised in three categories. In the first category, the madrasas with strength of 100 to 200 students, while in second category madrasas having enrolment of over 200 to 500 students and in last category madrasa with over 500 students will be mentioned, the letter says. Gorakhpur minority welfare officer Ashutosh Pandey said a letter to this effect had been received and the objective of the exercise was to update the record of Madrasa Board website.

These madrasas are located in Balrampur, Shravasti, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich and Lakhimpur Kheri districts. During the state government’s 46-day madrasa survey conducted in September-October last year seeking information on 12 aspects, including their source of funding, most of these madrasas had claimed that they got zakat from cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad but there was no record of the money that reached them. During the last year’s survey, around 8500 unrecognised madrasas were found running across the state.