Thrust on modernisation of madrasa education

Speakers at a discussion stressed on Saturday the need for modernising madrasa education, mainly the Qawmi one, with its integration into the mainstream education as 75 per cent students of such educational institutions remain jobless for lack of expertise, reports UNB.
They also said the government should bring Qawmi madrasas under its rules, regulation and control to ensure quality, pragmatic and science-oriented education for their substantial number of students.
The speakers also said there are now two types of madrasa education systems-Alia system regulated by the government under the Madrasa Education Board and Qawmi financed by donors but run independently.
"Around 75 per cent madrasa students now remain unemployed in different forms as they have no opportunity to engage in jobs based on their education and skills," said Prof Abul Barkat of Dhaka University.
He came up with the remarks while speaking at a discussion-cum-book launching programme at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.
Barkat and others wrote the book titled 'Political Economy of Madrasa Education in Bangladesh' based on their thorough research findings.
As per their findings, the DU professor said the total number of the madrasa students was around 10 million (1.0 crore) in 2008 which now stands at around 15 million. Of them, more than half are studying at Qawmi madrasas, where there are no rules and regulations.
There were 5.2 million students in Qawmi madrasas in 2008 which has now crossed 7.0 million.
"The country's every third student is a madrasa student and the situation is worse than what was in Pakistan era. We're not in a good position if we consider the standard of madrasa education," the DU teacher observed.
He said while the growth rate of general educational institution is three per cent that of madrasa educational institution is about 4.65 per cent.
Interestingly, Barkat said, 92 per cent managing committee members of madrasas do not send their children to such educational institutions.
He also said around 92 per cent madrasa students are from poor and lower middle-class families and they choose madrasas for both religious and financial reasons.
According to the findings, Barkat said, 50 per cent of the Alia madrasa students opined that their education system is almost ineffective to get good jobs while 70 per cent said their textbooks should be modernised further and 73 per cent said their teachers are not well-trained.
He said the madrasa education is not only backdated but also contradictory to the country's constitution. "Madrasas have failed to provide quality, non-communal and realistic education and produce skilled human resources."