Hyderabad: Madrasa incident highly disgraceful'

HYDERABAD: Religious scholars and rectors of various Islamic seminaries in the city have termed the incident of sexual abuse of students by a madrasa teacher as “highly disgraceful”. They said that they will soon hold a meeting to discuss ways to prevent such incidents which are degrading the levels of the Islamic institutions. Hafeez Mohd Waheed, of Islamic Madrasa Board, blames the teachers who are mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for such shameful incidents. 

“In most of the incidents we had found the teachers from these States are involved. Most of the local institutions do not hire them. We had already sent an advisory to the institutions asking them to keep a tab on the activities in their institutions especially when there are boarders. Counselling sessions for the students are also held,” he explained. There are about 2,000 Islamic schools across Telangana State and about 700 of them are located in and around the city. About 20,000 students are studying in the institutions located in the city.

Mufti Mastan Ali, who runs an Islamic seminary said that such incidents are condemnable and neither the management of the madrasa nor the accused’s family should come forward to arrange legal help for the accused person.  “Black sheeps are there in every community but the teachers hold a respectful position in the society. It is shameful to know that such incidents are occurring in the institutions,” he said.

Ilyas Shamshi, a social worker and religious scholar said that the madrasas should have a parent-teacher committee like the regular schools.  “If such committees are formed at the institution level, the parents will also know the affairs in the institutions. The madrasas should also form a team of counsellors to go and meet the students especially the boarders who are from other states,” he said.