Government to develop portal to gather information about madrasas across India

Digital Desk: Based on a parliamentary panel report, the government plans to establish a site to collect data on the country's recognised and unrecognised madrasas. The report of the parliamentary standing committee was submitted to the Lok Sabha on Monday. 

The Ministry of Minority Affairs informed the panel that it has contracted a business to develop an MIS (Management Information System) portal for madrasas to have more detailed data on madrasas around the country.

"The states/UTs would be invited to post information about madrasa schools on the abovementioned platform, and the portal will capture information about such recognised as well as unrecognised institutions," according to a source. 

"It is anticipated that data acquired from states/UTs through the site will aid in informed policy-making as well as effective scheme implementation," the ministry told the committee. 

The committee stated that it had not been given a timetable by which the ministry expected to have the aforementioned MIS portal operational. 

"As a result, the committee wishes that the MIS gateway be constructed promptly and on time," it stated.

Official figures show that roughly 1.17 lakh teachers are working in 26,928 recognised madrasas, which serve over 43.52 million students. 

The parliamentary panel noted that implementing the New Education Policy in madrasas would be difficult in the absence of comprehensive information about the madrasas, including available infrastructure, teachers, and students because only 10 states or union territories have entered information on the UDISE portal. 

As a result, the committee asked the ministry to collect the data within three months so that the madrasas may take advantage of the scheme's facilities.

The committee recommended that the ministry issue a directive to all states or union territories directing them to gather information about recognised or unrecognised madrasas, including information about their infrastructure, teachers, and students, within three months for all madrasas to receive the scheme's facilities. 

"The committee believes that unless the ministry has complete information about madrasas, they may find it difficult to implement the New Education Policy across the madrasas and, as a result, the scheme will suffer from improper assessment of the fund requirement and would deprive students/teachers of the benefits of the scheme," it said.