By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: Madrasahs in West Bengal, under the state Madrasah Board lack basic amenities like drinking water or separate toilets for girls. Many do not have playground, library, or even electricity supply.
TCN browsed through the data available on the website of the Directorate of Madrsah Education, under the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department of West Bengal last updated in June, 2012 and found interesting revelation.
The front side of Hasnecha Islamia Siddiquia Senior Madrasah. There is no toilet or drinking water facilities in this three storied Madrasah Building.
There are 609 recognised madrasahs in West Bengal, of which 102 madrasahs are running under Senior Madrasah Education System and rest 507 madrasahs are under High Madrasah Education System.
Out of total recognized Madrasahs 42 are girls, 564 are co-educational, 3 are boys and 17 are running under Urdu medium.
395 out of 609 Madrasahs are High Madrasahs (Secondary Standard),112 Madrasahs are Junior High Madrasahs (VIII Standard) and remaining 102 Madrasahs are Senior Madrasahs.
55 Senior Madrasahs have been upgraded to Fazil (10+2) Madrasahs. 198 High Madrasahs have been upgraded to Higher Secondary (10+2) Madrasahs and 183 Madrasahs are running with vocational courses for skill development.
The conditions of High Madrasahs are deplorable.
Datas on the website show that 136 co-educational and girls’ high madrasah have no drinking water facilities.
In Malda district, there are no drinking facilities in at least 19 Madrasah and 36 Madrasah in Murshidabad do not have any water source. At least 11 girls’ madrasah have no drinking water facilities, of which 7 are in Murshidabad and 3 in Malda district.
Drinking water and lone toilet for students beside the boundary wall of Hasnecha Islamia Siddiquia Senior Madrasah.
A total of 156 co-educational madrasahs do not have separate toilet facilities for girls. Out of 156 madrasahs, 25 in Malda district and 36 in Murshidabad do not have separate toilets.
Further, there are no toilet facilities in 11 girls’ madrasahs in the state, of which five are in Murshidabad and 3 in Malda district.
Out of 609 madrasahs only 355 have library facilities. 60 madrasahs in Murshidabad and 49 in Malda district do not have any library facility.
The Rajya Sabha MP Pranab Mukherjee gave a grant to this Madrasah from MP Lad Fund in 2002. CPIM MP Shamik Lahiri also gave money from his fund to this Madrasah
Only 248 madrasahs have proper play grounds. There are no playgrounds in 29 madrasahs in Murshdiabad and 22 in Malda district. Only two madrasahs is Murshidabad district have play ground: Bhabta Hasina Memorial Girls Madrasah and Shahadiar Girls Jr High Madrasah Unit-II.
There are many madrasahs in the state that do not even have electricity connections.
Madrasah Education in West Bengal is supposedly much better than many other states and attracts increasing number of Hindu, schedule castes or schedule tribes pupils because of noavialbity of any other school in the neighbourhood.
TCN visited a Co-educational Madrasah, Hasnecha Siddiquia Senior Madrasah on December 21, 2012 at the village Hasnecha in the district South 24 Parganas, about 40 km from Kolkata.
Maulana Muzaffar Hossain, the Headmaster of Hasnecha Islamia Siddiquia Senior Madrasah.
TCN met the Headmaster (Superintendent) of the Hasnecha Siddiquia Senior Madrasah, Maulana Muzzafar Hossain. Muzaffar Hossain told TCN that, this Madrasah was established in 1955, but recognized by the West Bengal Government in 1996. Now more than 537 students are studying in this Madrasah and more than 80 percent of them are girl students. The Madrasah runs under the old system, where classes start from I to Alim (X statndard). The three storied Madrasah building located just beside the Budgbudge-Birlapur Road.
TCN asked the Headmaster whether the girls and boys toilet are available in the three storied Madarsa building or not? Maulana agreed in a shy mood that, they don’t have any toilet facilities in the three storied building.
So the boys are forced to the answer to the call of the nature. He told TCN that they made a temporary toilet for girls beside the teachers’ room on the ground floor, but that is not hygienic.
TCN also found that the Madrasah did not even have purified drinking water facilities. Electricty connection was there in the school, but only in the ground floor.
Maulana Muzaffar said, to make the construction of the Madrasah building they got help from the current President of India Pranab Mukherjee, when he was Member of Parliament (Rajyasbha) in 2000.
Pranab Mukherjee granted Rs 1 lakh and released amount Rs 75000/- from MP Lad fund. CPIM MP Shamik Lahiri also funded by his MP lad of RS 1.5 lacs to this Madrasah in 2002.
Headmaster of that Madrasah also said, right now there is no common room for boys and girls students. But he informed that, under the Multi Sectoral Development Plan of Central Government, Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department of West Bengal Government recently released Rs 20 lacs of sanctioned amount of 39.23 lakhs in favour of this Madrasah. This amount will be used to create a separate girls’ common room.
(Link to the website of the Directorate of Madrsah Education, under the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education department of West Bengal: http://www.wbMadrasahdte.gov.in/ReportDashboard.aspx)