The Uttar Pradesh government has made Aadhaar-based biometric attendance compulsory in all government-aided madrasas across the state, a move that has drawn broad support from senior Muslim clerics who describe it as a necessary and progressive reform. The directive, issued by the UP Madrasa Education Board, applies to all students, teachers, and staff and comes in the wake of a verified attendance-manipulation scandal that prompted scrutiny from a national rights body.

What the Order Mandates

Under the new directive, every government-aided madrasa in Uttar Pradesh must record daily attendance through Aadhaar-linked biometric verification. The order covers the entire institutional ecosystem — students, teaching staff, and non-teaching personnel alike. Officials indicated the measure is aimed at closing loopholes in the existing system that had allowed fraudulent attendance marking to go undetected for an extended period.

The Scandal That Triggered the Crackdown

The urgency behind the order stems from a viral video, reportedly filmed in Barabanki, which showed madrasa staff using plastic cards bearing teachers' names to mark biometric attendance in place of actual thumb impressions. The footage further showed certain employees registering attendance on behalf of colleagues who were absent — a practice that allegedly distorted salary disbursement records. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took cognisance of the incident, elevating it from a local irregularity to a matter of institutional accountability.

Muslim Clerics Welcome the Move

Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli, Chairman of the Islamic Centre of India, described the directive as a sound administrative step. 'Making biometric attendance compulsory in madrasas in Uttar Pradesh is a good step. It will help ensure teachers' attendance and make sure that classes start and end on time,' he said, adding that the measure would directly improve the quality of education delivered to madrasa students.

Maulana Qari Abrar Jamal, President of Jamiat Himayatul Islam, went further, framing the reform within a broader vision of civic participation. 'It is a matter of great happiness. If the government wants madrasas in the state to not remain confined only to religious education but also become active participants in nation-building, then it is a matter of pride and happiness for all of us,' he said. Maulana Abrar Jamal also invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stated aspiration of seeing Muslim children hold 'a laptop in one hand and the Quran in the other,' and expressed support for the recitation of the national anthem and national songs in minority institutions.

Broader Significance for Madrasa Reform

This is not the first time the UP government has moved to tighten oversight of its madrasa network. The state has in recent years pushed for curriculum modernisation, infrastructure audits, and teacher accountability measures. The Aadhaar-biometric mandate, however, is among the most operationally concrete steps taken to date, directly targeting salary-linked attendance fraud. Notably, the endorsement from clerics of the stature of Maulana Farangi Mahli — whose family institution has deep historical roots in Islamic scholarship — lends the reform a degree of community legitimacy that similar past directives lacked.

What Happens Next

Implementation timelines and the mechanism for monitoring compliance have not yet been publicly detailed by the UP Madrasa Education Board. Observers will watch whether the biometric infrastructure is rolled out uniformly across rural and urban madrasas, given that connectivity and device availability vary significantly across districts. The NHRC's continued interest in the matter suggests that oversight will extend beyond the state administration.