Course description

Madrassahs: Their Role in Achieving Equality for Women

Bangladesh has always been among the most active of least-developed countries (LDCs) in fighting gender inequality. The country's achievements in education and gender equality in education have been remarkable. Nevertheless, some sections of the population have been left behind. One is female students in madrassahs.

Arguably, much of the increase in enrolment rates and gender equality in education can be explained by a rise and recent reform in the madrassah sector. Nearly half the student population in these madrassahs today is female. In actual fact, madrassahs provide education to over 1.5 million girls in Bangladesh. Yet, female students graduating from madrassahs often disappear from the workforce. In fact, the majority of girls enrolled in the system will not transition to university or employment.

But why have madrassahs fallen behind the rest of the nation? There are several reasons, some of which are historical. During the language movement in 1952, madrassahs were in an awkward position because of a strong emphasis on Urdu in the curriculum. After the country's liberation, some continued their curriculum in Urdu and some did not. However, the sector has often been seen as a breeding ground for anti-state opinions among students. The international community has also seen madrassahs as promoting terrorism, based on the fundamentalist ideologies that they are assumed to encourage because of their religious beliefs.

On the other hand, madrassahs have also resisted external assistance from NGOs. When NGOs first started operating in Bangladesh, they were often part of Christian missionary organisations and did charitable activities in underdeveloped areas in order to convert people to Christianity. So, as a result, NGOs were seen by madrassahs as threats.

Despite madrassahs’ complicated relationship with the state and the international community, they are important. Of the two kinds of madrassahs, i.e. alia and qawmi, alia schools are becoming more relevant to parents who wish their children to learn marketable skills but at the same time develop their understanding of the Quran and Hadith.

For those communities where religious schooling is the only socially acceptable form of education for adolescent girls, parents are reluctant to send their daughters to secular schools despite cash or food subsidies. By following Islamic religious teachings — for example, about girls and boys in separate spaces — madrassahs protect the honour of their daughters while in school. For religiously minded parents, alia madrassahs offering both secular and religious education provide a comforting response to the social influence of a rapidly globalising world.

Parents from various socio-economic strata are turning away from “regular” state schools to madrassahs to help preserve the social values of society, and they are choosing to send their daughters in the belief that they are safer for girls. Studies suggest that marriage-related motivations also influence parental choice of schooling for girls since madrassah education instils traditional values that make their daughters more eligible in the marriage market.

However, the Madrassah Education Board of Bangladesh reports on average, 33 per cent fewer girls sit for their grade 10 examinations than grade 8 ones. By the time they sit for grade 12 exams, 79% of girls have disappeared from school. What’s more, only a small percentage of girls attending madrassahs will enter the labour market. While it may be convenient to suggest that madrassahs should be replaced with secular schools, or will become irrelevant as a result of outdated curricula, current trends do not indicate that they will be replaced with secular schooling any time soon.

Real progress in society is achieved only through inclusion. The lack of objective information about the sector leads to misconceptions, further mistrust and the female population becoming marginalised. 

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