LUCKNOW: Days after a circular issued by the Darul Uloom Deoband (DUD) asking its students not to learn English and other languages but Arabic, Urdu and Persian, failing which they’d be expelled from the campus, the Islamic seminary informed the Uttar Pradesh Minority Commission that it never objected to English education, but a clerical error in the circular led to the misunderstanding. The Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission (UPMC), on Wednesday, had instructed the Darul UIoom, Asia’s biggest Islamic seminary, not to prevent its students from learning English or any other subjects stating that people had the right to get the education of their choice.
The Commission had summoned seminary officials and had asked the district magistrate to remain present during a hearing in the case. Commission chairperson Ashfaq Saifi, in his verdict, said, “A person has the right to get education of his choice... English is the official language of many states and the proceedings of the Hon’ble Supreme Court /High Courts are also done in English... Therefore, it is not proper to stop madrasa students from studying English and other subjects... it is expected that the management of Darul Uloom Deoband won’t stop students from seeking education in English and other subjects.” The seminary was represented before the Commission by Maulana Hussain Ahmed Haridwari and Nazim Majlis Talimi.
According to the statement addressed to the Commission chairperson, the education department of the seminary said, “The Islamic seminary has been running courses in English, Hindi, Mathematics and Computer Science for the students. There is no restriction on learning any language like English, etc in DUD. It was a clerical error in the notification issued which led to misunderstanding on June 13.”
“However, students studying in the madrasa are not allowed to take admission in another educational institution for a second degree, as pursuing two courses from two different institutions at the same time impacts on students’ studies. Legally also it is not allowed. But after completing the course from DUD, the student can pursue a second degree for which the Islamic seminary has no objection,” clarified the seminary in the statement sent to the Commission.