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LUCKNOW: After making it mandatory for madrassas in Uttar Pradesh to render the national anthem and videograph it on Independence Day, the Yogi government on Tuesday came up with an annual calendar that reduces discretionary holidays around Muslim festivals while making it compulsory for madrassas to remain closed on festivals of other faiths.

Clerics that TOI spoke to expressed unhappiness at the move. Hitherto, madrassas in UP were closed only during Muslim festivals with the exception of Holi and Ambedkar Jayanti. But the new calendar marks Mahavir Jayanti, Buddh Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Mahanavmi, Diwali , Dussehra and Christmas as holidays.

While seven new holidays have been added, 10 discretionary holidays allowed to madrassas for festivals like Id-ul-Zuha and Muharram have been reduced to four days. Also, these cannot be taken as a cumulative, but one day at a time when clubbed with a festival. Registrar of the UP Madrassa Board Rahul Gupta, explaining the move, said, “The 10-day holiday used to be at madrassas’ discretion, but now this is predetermined and distributed round the birthdays of great leaders. It’s important for students to know who these people were.”

“It has also been done to bring madrassas on a par with basic school education following the general rule of law,” he added. A madrassa official TOI spoke to was unhappy with the proposal. Eijaz Ahmed, president, Islamic Madarsa Modernisation Teachers’ Association, said, “Madrasas are religious institutions that do require different kinds of leave around a number of minority events for which the former discretionary leave was used. There is no problem in addition of holidays of other faiths, but it is totally wrong to cut down the ten discretionary special leaves.”

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