THE education policy-2009 is ready to be discussed in the cabinet soon. Indeed, it needs to be reviewed thoroughly by the government (and even in the Parliament) before it is implemented. Such a need is felt because some appreciate the policy highly, some analysts ask for some amendments and some conservatives even express negative views about it.
The debates are especially on two aspects: i) the degree of uniformity or diversity among various streams the policy proposed, and ii) the inclusion of religious education, especially Islamic education, in the proposed policy. This article will dwell on the second matter of contention because some conservative groups are criticising the madrassa education policy.
To my understanding, the problems prevailing in this field are as follows:
Compulsory religious education up to Grade-10 in the country has so far failed to raise the literate citizens' moral standards. One of the causes, I think, lies in the fact that the courses on religion put more emphasis on the beliefs and rituals than on social behaviour.
Madrassa education is producing many more low and mid-level graduates (Aalims) than the country actually needs for the posts of Islamic studies teachers, imams, kazis and muazzins.
Madrassa education doesn't impart as much general, vocational/technical education as required to prepare the graduates for jobs other than the religious ones mentioned above.
The problem is that some madrassa students are lured by local and international gangs into prospective but destructive professions; thus some of them end up being terrorists.
The country doesn't have as many Islamic scholars as it needs. As a result, some lower level so-called aalims declare decrees (fatwas) on some legal matters, which creates social problems -- some of them even involving life and death.
Now we need to see how many of these problems can be solved by the proposed religious education policy.
In the introduction to the policy document, while describing the aims and objectives of education, the policy committee spoke of creating "secular mentality" in the graduates. Some quarters are misinterpreting the word "secular" as "anti-religious." To my understanding, the policy committee did not mean that, rather the policy is to create a congenial atmosphere in the society where people of diverse religious beliefs will not claim their religion to be the lone acceptable one, or try to impose their religion on others or, in extreme cases, declare religious war (Jihad) against others. The education ministry is said to be considering deletion of the word "secular" from the policy document, but I don't think that is necessary.
In this modern world, not only education policy, but the state as a whole, needs to be secular because most countries have people of diverse religious beliefs. The above-mentioned aim of creating a secular mentality is in conformity with the Quranic verse -- "There is no coercion in religion (2:256)." If the aggrieved quarter wants that some believers of other religions embrace Islam, they can show the greatness, liberalism and modernity in Islam. Coercion (that is forbidden in Islam) can never help the process.
I find no specific suggestion for solving the first problem in the proposed policy. I suggest that a compulsory religious education course should put more emphasis on inter-personal social relations than on religious beliefs and rituals, which are readily learned in the family. It may be mentioned here that many religious people have a wrong idea: Allah will forgive any sin they commit, if they can call Him properly. But my understanding is that Allah Himself has made the scope of forgiveness limited to His own rights (Hoqqullah) and will not forgive the sins committed to others. That is, every human being must do justice to others and fully pay others' dues (Hoqqul I'bad). It may be added here that rights of Allah to a man are unlimited, we don't know how much (prayer) is enough; while others' dues are limited and known and can be easily paid fully if one is serious about paying.
To solve problems number 2 and 3, the policy committee proposed some "core" subjects that every madrassa student must study,so that the graduates can be absorbed also in jobs other than religious ones. Once problem numbers 2 and 3 are solved, the 4th problem would be neutralised automatically.
It seems that the aggrieved quarter is displeased at the policy of introducing general and vocational/technical subjects in the madrassa education sub-system. To provide food for thought, here I quote (English rendering from original Bangla) a portion of the policy described in "Madrassa education" chapter: "Along with teaching Islamic education properly, provision will be made to study various branches of scientific knowledge so that the students can excel in various ways of earthly living as well (p. 57)."
There is nothing wrong in earning a living through doing earthly jobs. Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM) himself did that. We all should remember that every Muslim longs for and prays to have well-being both here and in the hereafter (Fidduniya owal akhirate hasanah).
To solve the fifth problem, the policy committee proposed several measures. The main one is to extend the Fazil course to a 3-4 year one (as in Honours course) from its present 2 years. It may be mentioned here that each Fazil and Kamil course is of 2-year duration and, thus, is weaker than the Honours-Masters courses of general education.
In addition to the new measures, there is scope for potential students to be enrolled in Honours-Masters courses in Islamic Studies, both in general universities and in the Islamic University to become Islamic scholars. We can hope that the new measures along with the present facilities can go a long way in producing sufficient numbers of quality Islamic thinkers in the country and, thus, we would be relieved of the unscrupulous fatwas (decrees) now being imposed illegally by some half-educated people.

Abdus Sattar Molla is an education researcher at NIE, Singapore.
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