The rescued children in MP were bound for a madrasa in Latur, Maharashtra. Fifty nine of such children were rescued in Cuttack, Odisha, on Thursday.

Parents and locals don’t buy the allegations of trafficking for work; instead, they reveal realities prevalent in most rural areas: lack of enough government schools, poverty, and a love for religious education. In fact, in Seemanchal, where Muslims live in huge numbers, sending children to madrasas outside Bihar is as common a phenomenon as the migration of labourers from the state.

The reason: a madrasa not only offers free education, but children also get free lodging, clothes, respect in Muslim localities, a training in Muslim theology, linguistic skills and these days even digital literacy. It’s an education model that appeals to many parents.

A local Mohammad Altmash who runs a common service centre (CSC) at Bagdahra village said, “The government school provides free education but it lacks quality and dedicated teachers prompting parents to resort to madrasas.”

“We want our children to get education in madarsa rather than government school,” said 65-year-old Mohammad Afaque, a small-time farmer at Bagdahra village under Jokihat block 15-km away from Araria district headquarters, demanding the safe return of his son rescued in Madhya Pradesh.

Mohammad Tabaq , a 41-year-old auto driver whose 14-year-old son is one of the rescued children, said at Katni junction in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday (April 12) said, “After completing five years of madrasa education, he will be able to earn at least ₹10,000 per month by becoming an imam in a mosque or by doing any other religiously-oriented vocation. Such prospects are not possible with studying in government schools, especially in Bihar, where the whole primary education system is chaotic and teachers don’t show genuine interest in grooming children for future.”

Rahmati Khatun, a mother of five daughters and a son, said that since her husband is a migrant worker in Delhi and she often found it difficult to watch over her son, she sent her only son to a madrasa in Latur, where he would be safe and turned into “a religious and cultured person.” “He will get education and then possibly a job,” she said.

Almost all the guardians and parents that the HT spoke to said that young children are sent to madrasas soon after the end of Ramadan as that is when the new academic session of these seminaries starts.

Most of the parents were worried about the safety of their rescued children. A woman, whose son is among them, came running with family’s Aadhaar cards and pleaded that her son should be brought safely to her.

“We pay ₹1,000 to ₹2,000 to Mohammad Saddam, a teacher at Latur madarsa who takes the children to Latur,” she said, admitting “We have to spend ₹5,000 to ₹6,000 per annum on our child pursuing education at madarsas in other provinces.” She claimed, “There is a guarantee of a job there after completing education at madrasa, while the same is not true with government schools.”

The children largely from the families of migrant labourers from over dozens of villages such as Bagdahra, Matiyari, Thengapur, Karhara, Buna, Uda and other areas in Seemanchal leave for Maharashtra, Bangalore, Delhi, Kerala and other provinces every year to pursue free education in different madrasas. Majority of them never return to native places permanently, and settle there as migrants themselves.

Schools in Araria

“Every year, at least 150 children get enrolled in the school,” Principal Shams Jamal of Model Upgraded Higher Secondary School at Bagdahra village under Jokihat block said, snubbing the allegations of villagers that their wards were denied admission.

“We keep motivating people to send their children to school so that not a child stays away. The school has been a pride in the region established in 1881 with over 900 students enrolled in it at present,” he said.

Rajesh Kumar Thakur, Assistant Programme Officer (APO), BEP (Bihar Education Project), Araria, said, “Enrolment in government schools is the priority and no one can be denied the right to education.”

When asked about people preferring madarsa to government schools he stressed the need for launching an awareness programme. He said, “An awareness programme should be launched to check the practice.” In Araria over 400,000 children are enrolled in 1,197 primary, 628 middle and 232 high schools.

In Bihar there are 76,202 government schools out of which 38,140 are primary schools, 28,750 are middle schools and 9,312 are high schools with over 20.6 million students (2 crores and six lakh) enrolled.

CWC chairperson

Sumit Prakash, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Purnea chairperson, talking to HT said, “We have discovered a host of reasons behind exodus of minor boys, and the primary one is lack of awareness.” Declaring minor boys’ transportation a kind of trafficking, he said, “Minor children if being carried by an agent will be treated as trafficked and suitable steps are taken to rehabilitate them.”

ADCP and SP

Shambhu Kumar, Additional Director Children Protection (ADCP) Araria unit, said, “We have visited the concerned villages in connection with preparing a Social Investigation Report (SIR) of rescued children. Soon the children will be handed over to their parents/guardians through CWC.”

Araria superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Kumar, while talking to HT over phone, said, “The police will investigate the matter from all angles, including probing the motive behind sending such children to other provinces.”

He added, “The police will also investigate the role of the man who was taking the children to outside the state.”

The SP said, “Now, the case has been lodged in the state concerned where the children were rescued,” adding “Once they return, we will start a probe.”