Calling co-education “un-Islamic”, a prominent madarsa in Bihar has banned admission of the girls into the institution and even barred their entry into its campus.
Issuing a diktat recently, Madarsa Azizia, located at Biharsharif in Nalanda district, has stopped enrollment of girl students on the ground that co-education of boys and girls was against the basic tenets of the Islam.
Mohd Mumtaz Alam, headmaster of the madarsa, said that the decision had been taken in keeping with the directive of the madarsa administration. He said that the Islam did not permit co-education of boys and girls under one roof.
S.M. Sharaf, secretary (mutawalli) of the Soghra Wakf Estate Committee, which runs the madrasa, said that a decision to discontinue co-education had been taken since it was against the religion. “Boys and girls cannot study together under one roof,” he said. “Besides, male teachers are not supposed to teach the female students.”
He said that no enrolment of girls would be possible at the madarsa until separate arrangements were made for them on the campus.
Sharaf said that the decision of his predecessors to allow coeducation at the madarsa was completely un-Islamic. “I do not know under what circumstances the girls were allowed to join the madarsa but it is illegal as per the Islamic laws,” he said.
The secretary said that education for women at the madrasa would resume after separate arrangements were made for them. “Women teachers would be appointed for them but it will take some time,” he said.
