Madrasa education needs reform, equal support

Madrasa education in Bangladesh faces structural problems, with Alia institutions affected by unequal state support, curriculum changes and social prejudice, while Qawmi madrasas remain isolated from wider society and lack accountability, academics and researchers said yesterday.

They called for state support and reforms to preserve Alia education’s specialised character, along with stronger data collection, oversight and wider social engagement in the Qawmi system.

They made the remarks at the 28th episode of The Daily Star Itihas Adda, titled “Madrasa Education in an Unequal Society”, at The Daily Star Centre.

Prof Abdullah Al Masum of Chittagong University’s history department said madrasa education has significant potential if discrimination against it is removed.

He said changes to the Alia curriculum since the 2000s have altered specialised subjects while adding general ones, raising questions about whether it could still fulfil its original purpose.

“Students are also increasingly leaving after Dakhil for colleges instead of continuing to Alim.”

He also said Alia madrasas lack separate inspectors, with officials educated in the general stream conducting inspections.

Madrasa students also do not receive scholarships, stipends and other facilities on the same scale as general-education students, he added.

Prof Masum said madrasa education in the subcontinent had faced discrimination for nearly two centuries, although reforms helped Muslims enter modern education.

He pointed to the Reform Madrasa Scheme, introduced in 1914, which was later linked with Dhaka University, allowing madrasa students to enter its Islamic Studies department after the university was established in 1921.

Modern and traditional institutions, however, remain disconnected, he said. Recalling a visit to Hathazari Madrasa, Masum said he had proposed exchanges with CU academics but did not see such engagement.

Anthropologist Nurul Momen Bhuiyan said Qawmi madrasas cannot be understood solely through curricula or religious instruction; poverty, migration and local political economy also shape them.

Drawing on fieldwork at a madrasa in Sylhet, he said most teachers and students came from outside the locality, many from families linked to internal migration and low-paid work.

Families could view general education as expensive, inefficient and corrupt, while madrasas offered religious instruction and values, he said. These were among the reasons they sent children to Qawmi institutions.

The institutions he studied depended heavily on local elites whose power came from land and remittance wealth. Such dependence could compel poor teachers and students to show “worldly allegiance” to those financing and managing them, he said.

Writer Mir Huzaifa Al-Mamduh said the Qawmi system’s distrust of the state stems from the anti-colonial origins of the Deobandi tradition.

That legacy contributes to Qawmi institutions seeing themselves as separate from wider society and delays students’ understanding of the gap between their expectations and social realities.

“They must first recognise that they are part of this society. They are not a separate entity,” Huzaifa said.

He said anyone can open a madrasa in a rented property without permission from a central authority, arguing that the lack of oversight creates risks, including for child protection.

Huzaifa said he had found a list of around 29,000 madrasas under Befaq, the largest Qawmi education board, but no consolidated information on institutions outside it. There was also no comprehensive data on enrolment, finances or disciplinary action, including expulsions related to child abuse, he said.

He said the government should ensure such data is collected while allowing Qawmi institutions to determine their curricula.

Huzaifa also called for discussion on where Qawmi graduates could fit into the labour market and said curricula should incorporate contemporary knowledge so religious scholars could address issues such as economics and sociology.

The Daily Star journalist Emran Mahfuz moderated the event.