The Central Government has made an announcement to stop the scholarship for Uttar Pradesh madarsa students from classes 1 to 8 from the academic session 2022-2023. The new orders will be applicable to students studying in all minority institutions. The government will continue scholarships to madarsa students of classes 9 and 10.
Earlier, after the objections, the Uttar Pradesh Government had also stopped its scholarship programme for madarsa students. Under the Central government scholarship scheme, madarsa students from classes 1 to 5 receive a scholarship of Rs 1000, while students from classes 6 to 8 receive a scholarship amount as per their courses.
As per the Centre’s notification, stating the reasons for the discontinuation of the scholarship, the Right to Education (RTE) Act already guarantees free education to students in grades 1 to 8 in UP madarsas. Along with that, students enrolled in Uttar Pradesh madarsas also get free books for the duration of their education and mid-day meals. Last year, about 5 lakh Muslim students of 16,558 madarsas availed scholarships.
Previously, the Uttar Pradesh government conducted the UP Madarsa Survey to establish the count of unrecognised madarsas in the state. As per the data available, earlier this week, it was discovered that around 16 lakh students were registered in around 8000 unrecognised madarsas in the state.
