What is in news : The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has released a report — The “Impact of Exemption under Article 15 (5) with regards to Article 21A of the Constitution of India on Education of Children in Minority Communities”

Highlights of the Report:

• Minority Schools Catering to the Non-Minorities: Overall, 62.5% of the students in these schools belonged to non-minority communities. Only 8.76% of the students in minority schools belong to socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Disproportionate Numbers: In West Bengal, 92.47% of the minority population is of Muslims and 2.47% are Christians. On the contrary, there are 114 Christian minority schools and only two schools with Muslim minority status. Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, though the Christian population is less than 1% there are 197 Christian minority schools in the state.
• This disproportion takes away the core objective of establishing minority educational institutions.
• Non-Uniformity in Madarsas:
• Largest number of out-of-school children – at 1.1 crore – belonged to the Muslim community.
• According to the report, there are three kinds of madrasas in the country:
  • Recognised Madrasas: These are registered and impart both religious as well as secular education;
  • Unrecognised Madrasas: These have been found deficient for registration by state governments as secular education is not imparted.
  • Unmapped Madrasas:
    • Have never applied for registration.
    • The Sachar Committee report 2005, which says 4% of Muslim children (15.3 lakh) attend madrasas, has only taken into account the registered madrasas.