Qawmi madrasa textbooks shun national flag, anthem

Test books used for the ‘Muslim curriculum’ of Qawmi madrasas do not contain the national anthem and any image of the national flag, though textbooks approved by the general and madrasa education boards have them.

A bdnews24.com survey of Qawmi madrasa textbooks read at different levels revealed they were lacking compared to those of mainstream educational institutions.

Bangladesh Qawmi Madrasa Education Board (Befaq) says the curriculum of general education approved by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is British-influenced, while theirs is different.

Madrasa Education Board curriculum expert Sheikh Abu Jafar Ahmed feels the Qawmi textbooks should not be compared with those approved by the NCTB.

He said pictures of and sketches of men and women clad in shorts and T-shirts had been changed to those showing them in pajama and ‘panjabi’ for Alia madrasas.

“This is the way Alia madrasas use NCTB textbooks for their students.”

The National Education Policy emphasises the adoption of a common curriculum for compulsory subjects taught at madrasas.

The survey found that NCTB Bangla textbooks of the first to the fifth grades contained images and a detailed description of the national flag and the text of the national anthem, but no Qawmi madrasa books featured them.

The Qawmi madrasa books, instead, carry the statements of Befaq Secretary General Muhammad Abdul Jabbar Jahanabadi.

Jahanabadi told bdnews24.com: “The British trend of education is still in place. We’re not against general education. But we’ll be ruined if we opt for general education. We’re pursuing a system that will help us survive.”

He said the government did not accept the Befaq curriculum.

“Our educational orientation for Muslims, initiated in Medina, and the present British education system are contradictory to one another. General education is devoid of religion,” he said.

‘Religion and Moral Education’ is mandatory for general education from the third to the eighth grades. ‘Islamic Studies’ was added to the secondary level curriculum of general education in 2013.

Arabic and Islami History and Culture are taught in colleges and universities.