Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the madarsa in February 2006 during its 250th anniversary celebrations. A Telegraph picture

A leading centre of Islamic education during the British era now languishes in neglect. The campus of Calcutta Madrasah College, founded by Warren Hastings in 1780, at Haji Mohammad Mohsin Square, is now home to vagrants and stray animals.

With no guards at the gate, rickshaw-pullers turn up at the oldest madarsa in the state to play cards and students bunking classes and escaping through the backdoor is not an unusual sight. Inside the building, the floors are covered with dust and most of the benches are broken.

The madarsa, set up to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law, is affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Madarsa Education. Its college section offers theological degrees.

A student of the madarsa complains: “The pavements near our campus have been encroached by shanties.” He added that the students often leave early as there aren’t enough teachers to take classes.

The state government had sanctioned Rs 4.42 crore for the development of the institution a year ago but the process has lost momentum. “The foundation stone of a building to accommodate the school students had been laid in February 2006, during our 250th anniversary celebrations, but the structure is yet to come up,” complains a teacher.

“The institution has deteriorated. The lack of faculty members and infrastructure are the reasons behind its decline,” said Shahzad Shibli, assistant commissioner (commercial taxes) and a 1974 pass-out from the madarsa.

“The headmaster’s post has been lying vacant for one-and-a-half years and there are 11 vacancies among the teaching staff,” confirmed Mohammad Alamgir, teacher-in-charge of a section at the madarsa.

Things had first turned difficult for the madarsa after Independence. The moveable properties, including the library which had a large number of books and manuscripts, were transferred to Dacca madarsa in East Pakistan. The madarsa board, too ,was shifted there.

The state set up an interim board and conducted the High Madrasah, Islamic Intermediate, Alim, Fazil and MM examinations in 1948 and 1949. A few leading members of the Muslim community, with the help from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, reopened Calcutta Madrasah College in 1949. The state madarsa education board was then reconstituted and separated from the college, denying it the rights it had enjoyed since inception.