(ANALYSIS) A recent government report has revealed that there has been a significant rise in the number of students in madrasas — religious schools — in Bangladesh.

The data revealed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics stated that the number of students in madrasas increased to 2.75 million in 2023 from the previous 2.4 million recorded in 2019. At the same time, the number of students in secondary schools decreased from 9.23 million in 2019 to 8.16 million in 2023. Of these one million students, who left secondary schools, 300,000 joined madrasas and technical education institutions.

This has been brought on by a number of factors. For starters, the economic crisis in Bangladesh post-pandemic — which left many people unemployed — is a key factor behind the increasing enrolment in madrasas. As the pandemic pushed 16.5 million people (including rickshaw-pullers, transport workers, and daily wage earners into poverty) and around 20 million informal sector job holders unemployed, many families, unable to afford formal education, chose to send their children to madrasas.

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Many madrasas, which offer boarding facilities to students, do not charge a tuition fee, while some charge only a nominal fee for food and accommodation.

In Bangladesh, four different types of madrasas — Maktab, Hafizia, Qawmi and Alia — teach elementary Islamic subjects, theology, Islamic studies, social sciences, sciences, mathematics, English and arts, to students. Earlier, the Dawrae Hadith (under Qawmi Madrasa Education Boards) were not recognized, but the government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in 2017, made these degrees equivalent to master's degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic.

The BANBEIS study also revealed that madrasas in Bangladesh are no longer suffering from resource crunch. Over 84 percent of madrasas provide access to computers for students in 2023 as opposed to 82.95 percent in 2019. The number of madrasas with an internet connection has risen from 75.05 percent in 2023 to 89.94 percent in 2019, while Internet access in schools dropped to 75.57 percent in 2023 from the previous 80.83 percent in 2019.

Parents also feel confident to send their children to madrasas because their texts don’t teach “jihad” since the government banned it starting in 2018. This step was taken soon after the government found traction of violent extremism among Bangladeshi youth following the Dhaka café attack that killed 22 people, mostly foreigners, by five men.

Growing social media addiction among children have also pushed parents to divert the attention of their children to a faith-based education. They want them to learn to recite verses in the Quran — which they believe could be possible only in madrasas.

Studies have shown that parents and community leaders, especially in villages, want more girls to attend classes in madrasa because of their safety, and emphasis on moral education. Lower-middle-class or impoverished households often enroll girls in madrasas as it is perceived that a madrasa education makes girls live a “beautiful Islamic life by being a good housewife,” according to studies.

New curriculums and politics

The Hasina-led government introduced a new curriculum in schools over a series of stages starting 2023, which saw a departure from traditional examinations and assessment systems.

To reduce the burden of exams, schools adopted a continuous assessment model to monitor the progress of students by looking at their collaborative projects, storytelling, presentations and group work. There are speculations that parents, unhappy with the new curriculum in schools especially with the abolition of the examination system, may pull their children out of regular schools and put them into madrasas.

The popularity and dominance of madrasas in Bangladesh are also likely to increase under the interim government that came into being after Hasina was forced to flee the country following the protests calling for reforms on the quota allocation for government jobs in Bangladesh in August. 

When protests spiralled, the statues and plaques bearing the name of Bangladesh’s founding father and Hasina’s father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were attacked. Several madrasa students replaced the nameplate of Rahman on a major highway in Bangladesh with “Hazrat Ibrahim” (Prophet Ibrahim).

There are apprehensions that madrasas, especially Alia, which have strong political associations with the largest Islamist political party in the country, Jamaat-e-Islami, and its affiliate Islami Chhatra Shibir, would have more dominance in country’s politics after the interim government overturned a ban on them.

Studies have found that the ultimate goal for both Aia and Qaumi madrasas is to establish an Islamic state — the former wants it through active political participation in the democratic process while the latter wants to primarily use social Islamization projects to establish their absolute authority over Islam.

This has lead many to ask: Are the madrasas powerful enough to transform Bangladesh, which was built on secular ethos, into an Islamic state?

Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.