In a significant move to strengthen administrative oversight, the West Bengal government has directed all unauthorised and unaided madrasas in the state to submit detailed student enrollment data for the 2026 academic session within the next seven days.
The directive has been issued by the Directorate of Madrasah Education, which cited serious gaps in the creation of a comprehensive state-level database due to the non-submission of data and the absence of UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) codes for many institutions.
Instructions have been sent to District Minority Affairs Officers across 17 districts, including Alipurduar, Bankura, Birbhum, Cooch Behar, Hooghly, Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, Purulia, and Uttar Dinajpur, urging immediate compliance with the order.
According to an official communication from Bikash Bhavan, the headquarters of the state education department, a majority of unaided madrasas have failed to upload current student enrollment details on the government’s ‘Banglar Shiksha Portal,’ leaving authorities without reliable data on student numbers in these institutions.
Investigations have further revealed that many madrasas have not yet been assigned UDISE codes, a mandatory requirement for accessing the portal and uploading data through standard procedures. This gap has significantly hindered the government’s ability to monitor and regulate these institutions effectively.
At present, West Bengal has approximately 600 aided madrasas and over 1,000 unaided ones. While both categories follow a similar curriculum structure, no official decision has yet been announced regarding ‘Khariji’ madrasas, which have faced multiple complaints over their educational practices.
Officials from the Directorate emphasised that accurate student data for the 2026 academic session is essential for informed administrative planning and policy decisions. As such, strict instructions have been issued to take necessary action against any madrasa that lacks a UDISE code or fails to submit the required information.
The responsibility for compliance has been placed primarily on the Teachers-in-Charge (TICs) and the respective authorities of the madrasas. As per the directive, the TIC must physically sign the filled-in data in the prescribed format to ensure authenticity.
To further verify the information, institutions are required to submit a PDF copy of the signed report along with a soft copy in MS Excel format to the Bikash Bhavan office. Authorities have stressed that the entire process must be completed within seven days of receiving the directive.
The move is seen as a crucial step towards building a transparent and accountable education database, particularly in the madrasa sector, which has long faced challenges related to standardisation and monitoring.
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