Madrassa abuse case prompts calls for reform

A young madrassa student neglected to pray five times daily. As a punishment, her teacher burned her legs with a heated spatula.

By Sheikh Adnan Fahad for Khabar South Asia in Dhaka

May 18, 2012 (http://www.khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2012/05/18/feature-02)
 

Abdul Jalil never imagined his eight-year-old child would be subjected to such a cruel punishment for a minor transgression.

Jannatul Ferdous, his daughter, was admitted to a madrassa in Dhaka in the hope of getting a good education in religious studies. Early this month, that hope turned to a nightmare.

On May 1st, Jannatul was among 14 minor girls whose legs were allegedly seared with a hot spatula by their madrassa teacher "to give them the experience of hell-fire" for failing to observe the ritual of offering prayers five times a day.

"Now when I see my daughter I feel great pain in my heart. She could not sleep for several days and she had fever," Jalil told Khabar South Asia.

"Her injuries are yet to be healed," he added.

Jesmin Akhter, 38, a teacher at Talimul Qur'an Mahila Madrassa in the capital's Kadamtali area, is now in jail pending her trial. During preliminary interrogation Akhter admitted to the abuse, police said.

Talking to Khabar, Biplab Barua, a lawyer, said if police can investigate the case properly and produce strong evidence before the court, Akhter may get life imprisonment.

"Under the Women and Child Repression Control Act, there is no doubt that the madrassa teacher committed a serious offence," Barua said. "She should be given an exemplary punishment. The success of this case will largely depend on the efficiency and capacity of the lawyer who will stand for the complainant."

The incident, analysts say, underscores flaws in the system of religious education in Bangladesh, where many Islamic madrassas operate outside of government control, and with widely differing standards.

In Qaumi [community] madrassas, the focus is almost entirely religious and bans on corporal punishment are often ignored.

"You will find hundreds of madrassas in Bangladesh established here and there over which the government has almost no control," said Lutfar Rahman, Chairman of Journalism and Media Studies Department at Jahangirnagar University.

Sheikh Shahbaz Riad of the Dhaka Teachers' Training College says students at such madrassas are not receiving the same level of education as their peers at other schools in Bangladesh.

"The sole focus on religious studies in Qaumi madrassas makes its students religiously blind,"

Riad told Khabar. The government, he said, must step up its monitoring of such institutions and a modern curriculum should be introduced into its system.

In the Alia [government-regulated] madrassas, apart from Islamic studies, English, math and science are also taught, and that makes all the difference, Riad said.

According to Rahman, the solution lies in enforcing standards across the board and bringing all schools under government purview.

"The government either must bring all students under one system or appoint qualified teachers in the madrassas," he told Khabar.

Women make inroads in Bangladesh, but hurdles remain

By Adnan Fahad for Khabar South Asia in Dhaka – 02/02/12

February 01, 2012 (http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2012/02/01/feature-02)






Women have achieved remarkable political power in Bangladesh in recent years, but experts say the country still needs to offer women more opportunities and ensure their proper place in what has traditionally been a highly patriarchal society.

Although Bangladesh's constitution affirms gender equality, much work remains to free women from the clutches of illiteracy, hunger, poverty and unemployment, said Professor Nazma Shaheen of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences at Dhaka University.
"If we cannot apply the laws properly, if we cannot recognise woman's capacity in every sector, our goal of women's empowerment will not be achieved," Shaheen told Khabar South Asia.
When women are given the proper opportunities and authority, they can perform equally well, and sometimes even better than their male counterparts, she said. Shaheen cited the example of Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury, who is widely respected as an "honest, hardworking and effective minister" in the present cabinet.
"Not only her, but our prime minister and the opposition leader are female. Besides, in the ministries of Home, Foreign Affairs, Women and Child Welfare, Labour and Employment, female ministers are working successfully," Shaheen said.
Despite their remarkable success at the highest echelons of government, women are underrepresented at other levels, she said, adding that women's qualifications and capabilities must be properly recognised by the state.
"If we cannot increase the number of qualified women in the bureaucracy, the ultimate goal of empowering them will remain unfulfilled," she cautioned.
She added, however, that the number of women in academia, government offices, banks and security forces is gradually increasing."This is truly encouraging," she said.
Other experts believe women's empowerment must begin with girls, at the school level.
"Unless we can ensure gender-sensitive textbooks at primary and high schools, women's emancipation from discrimination and oppression will remain a far cry," Helal Hossain Dhali, a professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department of Dhaka University, told Khabar South Asia.
In this regard, he hailed the government's decision to incorporate gender courses in school curricula.
"The newly introduced National Education Policy has made it mandatory to include gender courses in the text curriculum. It is undoubtedly a great step forward," Dhali said.
"But at the same time, it also has to be ensured that other books of English, Bangla, religion or sociology do not contain any words or pictures that may influence the students' mind-set to become discriminatory toward women."
He said many textbook pictures depict a girl working with her mother in the house while her brother studies.
Fazilatunnesa Bappi, a lawyer and activist, said women's representation in parliament, the judiciary, army, academia, and public and private institutions is increasing at a remarkable pace, thus strengthening Bangladesh's democracy.
"I would request every political party, institution and person to unite and work effectively to further strengthen the foundation of democracy in Bangladesh," Fazilatunnesa told Khabar South Asia.