What is usually referred to as “pedagogy” -- the techniques or how teaching should take place -- is a crucial aspect of education. The notion that there are universal patterns and procedures in teaching, which ought to play a significant role in academic teacher preparation, is known as pedagogy -- also sometimes considered the “science of teaching.”
Madrasa is an Arabic word derived from the semitic root D-R-S, which means “to fall something” or “to teach something.” Therefore, the word madrasa means “the place where something is taught.” Moreover, it is an Islamic religious school. A madrasa's main goal is to teach students about Islam, the Islamic way of life, and its philosophy.
The British government established the first Alia Madrasah in this subcontinent in 1780. The Madrasah Education Board of Bengal was eventually established, laying the groundwork for formal madrasa education in this part of the subcontinent. Before Bangladesh's independence in 1971, Alia Madrasahs in East Pakistan focused solely on Arabic literature and Islamic knowledge.
Following independence, some steps were taken to modernize the madrasa education system. General subjects such as Bengali, Mathematics, English, Social Science, and General Science are now required. The Madrasah Education Board was established in 1978 by the Ordinance for the Modernization of Madrasah Education.
In Bangladesh, madrasa education coexists, in some instances, alongside the country's major secular educational system. Madrasas here are essentially divided into two categories: Those that fall under the authority of the Madrasah Education Board, also known as Alia Madrasas, and those that are independent called Qawmi Madrasas.
When analyzing their competency, I used a mixed-methods approach to investigate why madrasa students are falling behind -- a qualitative and quantitative approach where the sample size was 418.
Since 2022 (March-June), I chose some madrasas and schools (at random) in the Mymensingh district, Gaffargaon Upazilla. My goal was to look into their academic performance gap in subjects such as Math, English, and ICT. I chose not to compare other subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and so on, because science discipline students do not study Economics or Philosophy in the madrasas, while on the other hand, Commerce background students do not study Physics, Chemistry, and so on. Thus, I began working in the subjects where students from all disciplines intersect.
To begin, I wanted to determine their best-performing courses by institution type. Looking at their English and Math performance, 30.39% of school students performed well in English, while 25.23% of madrasa students performed well in English. In contrast, 21.08% of students excel in Math/ICT subjects in school while only 10.28% excel in madrasa. When comparing their performance, school students outperform madrasa students.
Secondly, During the in-depth interviews, some teachers revealed a mismatch of skills required and skills available, meaning some faculty members finished their graduation and higher degrees in a particular subject like Bengali, but end up teaching Math/English. In addition, some teachers use guidebooks during teaching. This is the one major reason I believe madrasas are lagging.
To realize more about the gap, I asked some of my neighbours who studied in Dakhil Madrasa in class eight, what the formula of (a+b)^2 is. But they were unable to answer it. When I asked some students in class 6 from school the same question, they answered and said this to be the easiest question.
There is a significant difference between their subject preference. If we look into it, 14% of students from madrasas preferred math/ICT, whereas 20% of school students preferred to study math/ICT. Again, 29% of students from madrasas preferred to study
English, while 33% of students from schools preferred English. Moreover, during the in-depth interviews of students, one of the students from class nine revealed that, “actually we have a huge course load, therefore that's a challenge for us to concentrate on every course equally.” That is a significant fact, as a heavy course load discourages them from studying more.
Another class ten student from a madrasa said, “I'm really afraid of the Math and English teachers' behaviours when I don't understand a particular thing. I asked him to repeat the concept, but the teacher scolded me in front of the class, which hurt me a lot.So I started sitting on the last bench and stopped asking any further questions.” I also tried to find which strategy may improve student performance. According to analysis, 25.7% of madrasa students stated that they needed to be more attentive for their performance to improve. In comparison to school students, 22.55% of students stated that they need to devote more time to self-improvement. On the other hand, 21.57% of school students want more private tutors to help them improve their skills, whereas 11.68% of madrasa students want fewer private tutors than general students. 29.44% of madrasa students want more time from the teacher, while 17.65% of school students want less time from the teacher to improve themselves.
Students who are studying in the madrasa have more courses than the general students who are studying in school. According to board exam marks distribution, Dakhil students are performing 1700 marks Comparing marks with general students who are performing 1200-1300 marks. The marks difference is huge which means they have more subjects than the general students.
The truth is, madrasas are more focused on religious courses instead of focusing on English and Math. Some of the students opined that “it doesn't matter more or fewer courses, the fact is students' seriousness in this particular area.” However the sample size of those we spoke to about the students' seriousness vs the course load as the major factors is few.
As madrasa students are studying more religious courses, perhaps they should concentrate more on English and Math in order to reduce the gap we see right now. Moreover, madrasa students do not dream of studying at a university level. If teachers are able to provide any kind of motivation to madrasa students, that might have a great impact on their upcoming study plan.
Mahmodul Hasan Shesheir is a Research Assistant at the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University
