Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced on Saturday, 13 June 2026 that madrasas in the state failing to teach state-government-recognised courses will be shut down from 1 July 2026. Dhami framed the move as an effort to connect madrasa students with modernity, signalling one of the most direct regulatory actions on minority religious education in the state's recent history.

Posting in Hindi on X, the Chief Minister stated: 'हमारा प्रयास मदरसों में पढ़ने वाले बच्चों को आधुनिकता से जोड़ना है' ('Our effort is to connect children studying in madrasas with modernity'). He added that from 1 July 2026, those madrasas that do not teach courses recognised by the state government will be closed.

Context

Uttarakhand has been governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2017, and Dhami has served as Chief Minister since 2021. The announcement reflects a broader regulatory push by BJP-led state governments to bring madrasa education under mainstream academic frameworks. Similar drives have been undertaken in Uttar Pradesh and Assam, where state authorities conducted surveys and recognition exercises to assess whether madrasas comply with prescribed curricula.

The move places Uttarakhand alongside a growing number of states that have made state-curriculum compliance a condition for a madrasa's continued legal operation — a step that goes further than earlier advisory or funding-linked approaches.

Policy Backdrop

At the central level, the Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM), introduced in the mid-2000s under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, sought to introduce modern subjects such as science, mathematics, and social studies alongside traditional religious instruction. The scheme incentivised — but did not mandate — curriculum upgrades, and its reach has been uneven across states.

Dhami's announcement goes a step further by setting a hard deadline and linking non-compliance directly to closure, rather than to the withdrawal of funding alone. The state government has not yet publicly released the full list of recognised courses that madrasas must adopt to remain operational.

Stakeholders and Impact

Madrasa students — the stated beneficiaries of the modernisation push — stand at the centre of the debate. Proponents argue that exposure to a state-recognised curriculum improves employment prospects and integrates students into the mainstream education system. Muslim community organisations and madrasa management bodies are expected to scrutinise the recognised-course list closely, and legal petitions before the 1 July 2026 deadline remain a possibility.

The precise number of madrasas in Uttarakhand that currently operate without state recognition has not been officially disclosed, making the scale of potential closures difficult to assess at this stage.

What's Next

The immediate watch-points are formal government notifications specifying which courses qualify as 'state-recognised,' and whether the state coordinates with the central Ministry of Minority Affairs on any linked funding or transition support. Any legal challenge mounted by madrasa boards before the July 2026 deadline could delay or reshape implementation.

If enforced as announced, the policy would mark a significant shift in how Uttarakhand regulates minority religious education — and could set a precedent that other BJP-governed states choose to replicate or reference in their own madrasa reform efforts.