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New Delhi, Sep 12: Madrasas are "unsuitable" places for children to receive "proper education" and the education imparted there is "not comprehensive" and is against the provisions of the Right to Education Act, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has told the Supreme Court.

The child rights body told the top court that children, who are not in formal schooling system, are deprived of their fundamental right to elementary education, including entitlements such as midday meal, uniform etc.

The NCPCR said madrassas merely teaching from a few NCERT books in the curriculum is a "mere guise" in the name of imparting education and does not ensure that the children are receiving formal and quality education.

"A madrassa is not only a unsuitable/unfit place to receive 'proper' education but also in absence of entitlements as provided under Sections 19, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, and 29 of the RTE Act," it said.

"Further, madrasas do not only render an unsatisfactory and insufficient model for education but also have an arbitrary mode of working which is wholly in absence of a standardised curriculum and functioning," the NCPCR said in its written submissions filed before the top court.

The child rights body stated that due to the absence of provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, the madrassas are also deprived of entitlement as in Section 21 of the Act of 2009.

"A madrassa works in an arbitrary manner and runs in an overall violation of the Constitutional mandate, RTE Act and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. It cannot be overlooked that a child getting education in such an Institution will be devoid of basic knowledge of school curriculum which is provided in a school.

"A school is defined under Section 2(n) of the RTE Act, 2009, which means any recognised school imparting elementary education. A madrassa being out of this definition has no right to compel children or their families to receive madrassa education," the NCPCR said.

It said most of the madrassas fail to provide a holistic environment to students, including planning social events, or extracurricular activities for 'experiential learning.

In a breather to about 17 lakh madrassa students, the apex court on April 5 had stayed an order of the Allahabad High Court that scrapped the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004 calling it "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism.

Observing that the issues raised in the petitions merit closer reflection, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had issued notices to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and others on the pleas against the high court order.

The top court said had the high court "prima facie" misconstrued the provisions of the Act, which does not provide for any religious instruction.

The high court had on March 22 declared the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madarsa Education Act, 2004, "unconstitutional" and violative of the principle of secularism, and asked the state government to accommodate students in the formal schooling system.

The high court had declared the law ultra vires on a writ petition filed by advocate Anshuman Singh Rathore.

It had said the state has "no power to create a board for religious education or to establish a board for school education only for a particular religion and philosophy associated with it."

"We hold that the Madarsa Act, 2004, is violative of the principle of secularism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution," the high court had said.

The petitioner had challenged the constitutionality of the UP Madarsa Board as well as objected to the management of madrassas by the Minority Welfare Department instead of the education department.

The Israeli regime’s warplanes have conducted extensive airstrikes against towns and villages across Lebanon, killing at least 492 people.

Lebanon’s health ministry announced the death toll on Monday, saying the victims included 35 children and 58 women.

The ministry said at least 1,645 others had also been wounded in the attacks that targeted the areas earlier in the day.

Lebanon’s health minister Firass Abiad said that the health ministry is working to ensure those injured in Israeli strikes are getting the health care they need.

The health minister said he had asked hospitals to stop taking regular, light cases to make space for the wounded from the south.

“We working on directives for the first-aid centres to be turned into places that can receive the wounded. The displaced people who have cancer, kidney failure and other chronic diseases, we have the plan to continue their treatment in different medical centers,” he said.

The country’s media outlets said the aircraft had bombed all the towns and villages lying on the southern border as well as their surroundings.

Israeli warplanes also reportedly targeted eastern Lebanese areas, including the Bekaa Valley and Baalbek.

Lebanese sources said the airstrikes had targeted a total of more than 40 areas in Lebanon during the attacks.

The Sheikh of the Druze community reached out to the Deputy Head of the Supreme Islamic Shia Council and expressed solidarity and reaffirmed support for the people of southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs, and the Bekaa during this critical period for the country.

The Commissioner of Marjayoun-Hassbaya in the Muslim Scouts, Sheikh Hussein Al-Nader, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted his home in the town of Dibbine, Marjayoun district, South Lebanon.

Three people were injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Deir El-Zahrani highway, in South Lebanon.

A family of four was killed in Hermel, Bekaa, due to the recent Israeli airstrikes.

Israeli media outlets, meanwhile, alleged that the attacks had hit locations lying as far as 125 kilometers (77 miles) inside the Lebanese territory.

Israeli military spokesman Danieh Hagari said the regime "will engage in [more] extensive and precise strikes” against Lebanon, adding that the attacks would "go on for the near future.”

The regime has markedly intensified its attacks against the country since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has responded with numerous strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories as a means of both retaliating against the regime and displaying support for the war-hit Gazans.

On Sunday, the group staged its farthest-reaching strikes against the territories since October, firing scores of rockets against the Ramat David Airbase, 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of the city of Haifa, and the Rafael weapons manufacturing facility in the Zevulun area north of the city.

It described the strike against the facility as its “initial response” to the regime’s detonation of thousands of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkie radios that killed at least 39 people and wounded 3,000 others across Lebanon over Tuesday and Wednesday.

Also on Sunday, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the movement was in a "new phase" in its battle against the regime.

"Threats will not stop us... We are ready to face all military possibilities,” he noted.

Qassem made the remarks while attending the funeral of Ibrahim Aqil, one of the group’s senior commanders.

Aqil had been martyred alongside 37 others, including three children and seven women, during an Israeli attack on a residential building in a southern suburb of Lebanon’s capital Beirut on Friday.

Mangaluru: Mayor Sudheer Shetty Kannur said that as a part of the International Day of Democracy, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will hold a 23-km long human chain and plant 1000 saplings in the Bengre area on September 15.

The human chain will be formed from Pavanje bridge to the border of Arkula, which will pass through Nanthoor Junction- Kannur Junction. The event is organised with the objective of creating awareness among the public, particularly the youth, about the significance of democracy. Around 10,000 people, particularly students, will participate in forming the human chain in the city limits, he told media persons.

He said Democratic system in India is a model to the world and we should be grateful to Dr B R Ambedkar for giving the country a beautiful constitution. To make the people, particularly the youth, aware of the Constitution and its preamble, the state government has chalked out a plan to form a mega human chain from Bidar to Chamrajnagar. As a part of it, the programme will be held in Mangaluru. Students from various schools, colleges, various organisations, NGOs should actively participate to make the event a grand success.”

The Mayor said as a part of the celebrations, an arch will be built at Pavanje bridge and Kannur Junction. The Zonal office at Surathkal will be decorated with tri colour along with KPC Circle, Nanthoor Junction, Padil Junction. The main programme will be held at Kadri Circle near Circuit House in Mangaluru, which will be attended by DK MP Capt Brijesh Chowta, MLAs D Vedavyasa Kamath, Dr Y Bharath Shetty, DC Mullai Muhilan MP and others. Flags will be placed for every 100 metre of the human chain stretch. The participants can click their photos and upload it through https://democracydaykarnataka.in/ to collect a certificate, added the mayor. 

The human chain will be held from Pavanje to Mukka checkpost, Mukka chepost to Mukka Junction, Mukka Junction to NITK gate, NITK gate to Tadambail Junction, Tadambail Junction to Hotel Suraj, Hotel Suraj to Govinda Dasa College, Govinda Dasa College to Kordabbu Daivasthana, Hosabettu, Kordabbu Daivasthana to Honnakatte Junction, Kulai to APMC, Baikampady, Hotel Vishwasagar to Mangaluru traffic police check post , Mangaluru traffic police check post to Panambur circle, Panambur Circle to NMPA railway track, MCF to Kuloor bridge, Kuloor bridge to Gold Finch ground, Gold Finch ground to Kottara Chowki, Kottara Chowki to BMS Hotel, BMS Hotel to SKS apartment, KPT to Saptagiri petrol bunk, Nanthoor Circle to Kaikamba, Maroli Jodukatte till Padil Circle, Padil to First Neuro Hospital – Kannur Junction, Adyar Katte to Sahyadri College, Sahyadri College to Expert Cross (Valacchil), Express Cross to Arkula border.