Catch ’em young. Assam cannot be faulted in its approach towards building an ethos of civic ~ as opposed to religious or ethnic ~ nationalism by starting with the first public space Indian citizens interact in: schools.

The state government has moved to ensure that all state-run schools including madrasas and Sanskrit tols (schools) will from now on operate on the lines of other general education institutes. This would end religious education imparted in schools with government funds.

The proposition that schools need to be secular spaces and, over time, become the building blocks for a notion of citizenship which transcends the narrow confines of identity is unexceptionable.

Indeed, it can be termed a categorical imperative for the country to achieve its true potential ~ celebrating its diversity of faiths, languages and cultures but unified in its Indianness. To that extent, the decision of the Assam Cabinet earlier this week ~ a Bill to give effect to it is expected to be tabled in the upcoming winter session of the state legislature ~ is a welcome one.

State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the move was aimed at “making education secular”, adding that as part of the move some 700 madrasas and close to 100 tols in Assam would no longer give admission to students for theological studies.

There are, however, two points of caution that merit consideration in the drafting of the Bill and its implementation in the coming days. First, there are around 48,000 government lower and upper primary schools in Assam, but dwindling enrolment has forced the state education department to take drastic measures like school amalgamation in the recent past.

The state of infrastructure at these educational institutions is in the main pathetic. So, to defend itself from the charge of having misplaced priorities, the state government needs to ensure that simultaneously with secularising school education it augments the quality of education imparted in these schools and incrementally adds to their quantity especially in far-flung areas.

Secondly, and this is vital given the political party ruling the state is the BJP even though it will not like hearing it, the administration must proactively communicate to the minority community the rationale and intent behind the initiative.

Under no circumstances must the issue be allowed to be painted as an anti-Muslim measure by the ruling dispensation’s political opponents and/or radical outfits. Equally, there can be no triumphalism among the saffron faithful as that would be entirely counter-productive. With great reform comes even greater responsibility.

The core liberal value that individual rights can never be trumped by group rights in the public space is the key to this reform. It must stay true to that.