The Narendra Modi-led Union government has decided to undertake modernisation of madrasas, including training of teachers in subjects like mathematics English, science and computers, so that students can be imparted mainstream education. Ironically, though, over 25,550 teachers of 8,554 government-recognised madrasas in Uttar Pradesh are still awaiting payment of salaries pending for the past three and half years. The teachers, who get salaries both from the Centre and the state governments, say the Centre has not released funds since 2016 while the UP government has not paid its share since the past four months, writes Abdul Alim Jafri on the web portal News Click on June 15.
As per recent data of the UP Minorities’ Welfare Department, salaries amounting to Rs 551 crore are pending with the Centre and Rs 11 crore is stuck with state government. According to the data, out of 25,550 teachers, as many as 9,946 teachers are graduates and 15,605 are post-graduates with Bachelor’s in education.
The Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM) comes under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and aims to provide “modern, quality education” in every madrasa across India. Under the scheme, people with graduation or post-graduation degrees were hired to teach math, science, English and computers in madrasas. However, the teachers posted in madrasas across UP are struggling to get their pending salaries since 2016.
The state coordinator of All India Madrasa Modernisation Teachers Association (MMTA) Badre Alam, said that “… since 2016, when Akhilesh Yadav was in power in the state, they used to pay Rs, 2000 per month to graduates and Rs 3,000 per month to post-graduate teachers, but since four months our salaries have not been paid by the state government.”
With salaries still pending, life has become tough for madrasa teachers in the state. Asif Mahmood, who teaches math and computers at M Fatima Girls School in Gorakhpur, said he spends Rs 4,000-5,000 on his child and family expenses each month, for which he borrows money from friends and relatives. “But, how long will this continue?” said Mahmood.