Experts for modernisation of madrasah education
“Madrasah students suffer from isolation for faulty curriculum which has no focus on mother language, history, culture
and science”
Though the Alia madrasah education system has been modernised with its integration into the mainstream education, noted educationists and analysts are of the opinion that it could not reach the desired goal of producing required skilled human resources due to faulty and imprudent plans.
Talking to UNB, Prof Emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury, Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam, Prof Abul Barakat and Dhaka Alia Madrasah Principal Prof Siraj Uddin Ahmad said students now can properly learn neither science nor English or even Arabic as the so-called modernisation of the Alia education has largely failed to attract students and ease their study load.
The educationists observe that formation of a madrasah education commission is imperative to bring the madrasah education under a single platform with a holistic approach combining science, English and Arabic education to turn madrasahs into effective educational institutions to create knowledgeable and skilled human resources.
There are now two types of madrasah education systemsone Alia system regulated by the government under the Madrasah Education Board and another Qawmi system financed by donors and run independently.
According to the Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board, there are now 9,389 madrasahs under it across the country with around 35 lakh students.
About modernisation of madrasah education, Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury said madrasah students suffer from isolation due to their faulty curriculum which has no focus on mother language, history, culture and science.
Weve long been talking about modernisation of madrasah education. We should introduce a real, unified education system merging the existing Bangla, English and Madrasah system. The unified education should be based on the mother langue, he said.
Prof Syed Manzoorul Islam of Dhaka Universitys English Department said there should not be two types of madrasah education. We should bring the madrasah education under a single platform with its proper modernisation. We can follow Kolkata madrasah modernisation model which has turned very effective to produce very skilled human resources.
In the Kolkata model madrasah system, he said students from any religion can study in madrasahs, and they are nicely picking up the modern education and becoming doctors, engineers and IT experts and getting good jobs.
The noted educationist observed that although a small number of madrasah students here can get admitted to different public universities, very few of them are getting chance in Buet, medical and science-based subjects as they are not getting quality science education.
He said the government should form a commission immediately to streamline the madrasah education through discussion and dialogue with the different stake holders.
According to the findings of their research on madrasah education that was updated in 2015, Dhaka University Prof Abul Barakat said 50 per cent Alia madrasah 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 they also found the degrees of both Fazil and Kamil not comparable to university ones as the curricula at the two levels place high emphasis on religious aspects.
Dhaka Alia Principal Prof Siraj Uddin Ahmad also feels a madrasah education commission should be constituted, and the madarsah curriculum at all levels should be modernised further to make the education more effective, attractive and conducive to producing very skilled human resources.
As theres now huge unnecessary study pressure on madrasah students, he said adding that textbooks should be redesigned with an approach of load-management.
Prof Siraj bemoaned that most madarsah students cannot speak Arabic and write it correctly despite reading the subject for many years. Were now giving special focus on the issue.
Contacted, Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said now there is no big difference between general and madarsah education systems when it comes to curricula except the latters additional Arabic and Islamic subjects.
Still, were taking various steps to modernise and improve Alia madrasah education further. Weve set up a separate directorate for madrasah education to give more focus on it.
We want the madrasah students to get educated properly with modern knowledge so that they can hold prestigious positions in society, he said.
