Kolkata, July 29 (IANS) The process of submission of preliminary reports on the state-of-affairs in the existing madrasahs in 12 districts in West Bengal to the State Secretariat Nabanna had been completed on Wednesday, an official from the State Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department said.
Now the said department will compile the findings in the preliminary reports sent from the officers of the district magistrates from these 22 districts and submit a combined and final report to the office of the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
The entire exercise had been initiated by the State Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department to identify illegally-run and Khariji (unaffiliated) madrasas in the state.
The 12 districts from where the preliminary reports have come include Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Nadia, Hooghly and Howrah.
Out of these 12 districts, seven districts namely Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Nadia have international borders with Bangladesh.
It is learnt that the majority of the Khariji (unaffiliated) madrasahs only pursue the syllabus on the Islamic religious education.
Almost all the district magistrates from these 12 districts in their preliminary reports have stressed on the necessity for investigating the sources of funds for running such entities, the State Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department official said.
He also added that in the preliminary reports from the district magistrates it had also been stated that besides receiving small donations from local people, the main sources of funds for these unaffiliated madrasahs are institutional donations, including overseas donations.
“The district magistrates’ reports have stressed on the necessity of probing such institutional and overseas donations,” the department official said.
He also said that the maximum number of Khariji madrasahs have been reported from the seven districts having international borders with neighbouring Bangladesh.
In the first week of June, a notification was issued on this count, directing the DMs from all districts in the state to send comprehensive reports on madrasahs in their respective districts to the State Secretariat Nabanna by July 5.
After those reports were submitted, the DMs of these 12 districts were asked to send a second-round preliminary report after further investigation in their respective districts.
Now the second round of preliminary reports from these 12 districts have also been submitted.
–IANS
src/khz
