“Islam is a religion of peace. It never encourages anyone to get involved in destructive activities. It would have been possible to maintain an amicable and peaceful relationship among the people of every religion around the world if the teachings of the Quran could be spread properly. All these destructive activities and militancy would never have come into being. And this is why madrasa education is most important,” said speakers at the latest Boithoki roundtable titled ‘The Future of Madrasa Education’ organized by the Bangla Tribune at its Dhaka office on January 25. The roundtable, moderated by journalist Munni Saha, was telecast live on ATN News and the Bangla Tribune’s official Facebook page
‘Making religious and general education contradictory illogical’
Islamic Foundation Director General Shamim Mohammad Afjal said that religious education was introduced to help make people better and this system would not cause any harm to the general education system.
“Bangla, English and history are taught at the madrasas. There is no logic in making religious and general education contradictory.
“Basically, the madrasas impart moral and religious education. Moreover, many madrasa students are becoming doctors and engineers,” Shamim added.‘None from Qawmi madrasas are unemployed’
Concurring with Shamim, Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasa Education Board Vice-President Mufti Faizullah at the Boithoki said madrasa students had to study a number of other books apart from the Quran so that they do not lag behind.
“We believe in non-communalism. So, we always want that all the madrasas will continue their educational activities under a single syllabus and board,” he said.
Faizullah continued: “Everyone, including the government, admits that none from the Qawmi madrasas gets involved in terrorism, acts of violence and corruption. Islam always prioritizes women rights and their dignity. No-one can deny it.”
“About 20 million people from the general education background are jobless in Bangladesh, but none from Qawmi madrasas are unemployed. They have secured jobs with their capabilities,” he claimed.‘Madrasa system offers higher education’
Dhaka University’s Urdu Department teacher Prof Golam Rabbani said that madrasa education was not limited to only Ebtadayee or primary education as it also offered MA degrees.
He said: “That means there are options for higher education in this system. I once saw in a documentary that Hifz students were memorizing the Quran without understanding its meaning.
“When this matter was pointed out, they replied that they were supposed to memorize the Quran during the Hifz stage and will be taught the meaning, explanations and do research later. Hifz is a part of the madrasa education system. The whole system cannot be evaluated by this [Hifz] only.”
Brac University’s Brac Institute of Governance and Development Head of Operations Sarwar Jahan Chowdhury said the education a child received while growing up was the most important for it. “Whatever the child learns affects him or her throughout the life. They will lag behind in the job market if the education is not proper,” he added.‘All institutions need to be monitored’
Bangla Tribune’s Chief Reporter Udisa Islam said there was no reason to think that the madrasas would have to have a combined form as there were many educational institutions such as the kindergarten even in the general system.
“The main problem is the lack of knowledge about the madrasa curriculum,” she said. “Whenever people from the two branches (general and madrasa) apply for the same job, the employers do not know what the madrasa students study. So, this is a big problem for the madrasa students.”
She also emphasized monitoring to ensure no-one gets out of all the educational institutions with wrong education. “It is our responsibility to see what they are learning and whether they are learning the wrong things. Otherwise, there will be negative effects.”‘All madrasas need to be brought under one board’
Dhaka Tribune journalist Shohel Mamun said he had not worked on madrasa issues before. “But I gained the knowledge and experience when I reported on them recently. I have seen that there are different types of madrasas with some issues,” he said.
“All the madrasas need to be brought under a single education board if we want improve things related to the system,” he said. “Only then it will be possible to make madrasa education timely in the future.”
