UP to open two universities, to affiliate madrassas to them: Minority minister Rajbhar
Lucknow, Aug 11: Seeking to make changes in the process of granting recognition to madrassas, Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that two universities will be opened in the state and all madrassas will be affiliated to them.
"Our effort is to open two universities. We want to attach the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education with the university and all madrassas should be recognised (by the university) so that there is no dispute in the future," he told PTI Videos recently.
He noted that many colleges are affiliated to the Lucknow University, Purvanchal University and Shakuntala University.
If madrassas were operated under universities, things would have been different.
At present, madrassas in the state are recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education.
Citing a letter by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) dated June 7, then Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra on June 26 had issued directions to all district magistrates on children studying in madrassas.
In its letter, the NCPCR had directed that all non-Muslim students studying in government-funded madrassas be admitted to schools of the Basic Education Council to provide them with formal education.
It also said that all children studying in all such madrassas of the state, which are not recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education, should also be given admission in Basic Education Council schools.
Uttar Pradesh has approximately 25,000 madrassas. Of these; 16,500 madrassas are government-recognised, including 560 government-aided madrassas. Around 8,500 madrassas are not recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education.
Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind's legal advisor Maulana Kaab Rashidi said the government should talk to all stakeholders, including Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, Nadwatul Ulama and Darul Uloom Deoband, before making changes in the system.
He said the Constitution has given the right to minorities to establish and run their educational institutions. In the system the state government is going to make, special care should be taken to ensure that the constitutional rights of minorities are protected.
Chairman of Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Iftikhar Ahmed Javed on Sunday said the state government is going to take such a big step regarding madrassas but the board has no information about this.
"It has never been seen or heard before that any education board will be affiliated to a university," he said.
However, he said the government has the power to bring about radical changes in the system, but before issuing the order to admit children of unrecognised madrassas in council (state-run) schools, consideration should have been given to giving recognition to such madrasas from the board.
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Mpox patient at LNJP hospital stable, no need to panic: Delhi health minister
New Delhi, Sep 10: The mpox patient admitted to the LNJP Hospital here is in stable condition, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday.
Bharadwaj conducted a surprise inspection at the hospital earlier in the day to assess its preparations for dealing with cases of mpox and dengue.
"There is one confirmed patient of mpox at LNJP hospital. He has a travel history and it is believed that he got infected during his travel abroad," the minister said.
"The patient has been isolated in a separate ward. He is in a stable condition," he added.
The 26-year-old patient, a resident of Haryana's Hisar, has only genital ulcers and skin rashes but no fever, a health department official said. The patient was kept in the disaster management ward of the hospital, according to a statement from the health department.
Bharadwaj emphasised that there was no need to panic over mpox as it spreads through contact, not through the air.
The Union health ministry on Monday said that it was an "isolated case" and there was no immediate risk to the public.
"The individual, a young male who recently travelled from a country experiencing ongoing mpox transmission, is currently isolated at a designated tertiary care isolation facility. The patient remains clinically stable and is without any systemic illness or comorbidities," the ministry had said.
The patient was admitted to the Delhi government-run hospital on Saturday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) last month declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for the second time in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.
While the LNJP has been designated as the nodal facility, two other hospitals are on standby.
The LNJP Hospital has a total of 20 isolation rooms for the patients, including 10 for confirmed cases.
The Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital and Baba Saheb Ambedkar will have 10 rooms each for such patients, with five rooms each for suspected cases.
The health minister said that the cases of fever have increased a bit but there is nothing to worry about right now.
He said separate waiting rooms for attendants of the patients will be set up at every ward to further improve the hospital facilities.
"Separate rooms are available at the hospital for dengue patients. We have reviewed how will the doctors identify a dengue patient if they come in emergency and then how they will be shifted to a different ward," Bharadwaj said and added similar surprise inspections of other hospitals will be conducted by him.
The hospital administration told the minister that only one case of monkeypox came to the hospital and the condition of that patient is also stable, the statement said.
