DHAKA - The Nationalist-Islamist coalition government in Bangladesh has given recognition to Islamic religious schools which strictly follow an academic regime based on the Koran, the holiest book of the Muslims, officials said on Tuesday. The decision to recognize the “Qaumi” madrassas was announced overnight by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to a team of Islamic clerics who had called on her at her office. The assembled clerics, mainly belonging to the Islami Oikkyo Jote (IOJ), cried out Mashallah and Alhamdulilla, to record their appreciation of the government decision. “The decision has come belatedly but then it is better late than never,” said IOJ top leader Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini who is also a pro-government lawmaker.
Official recognition of these educational establishments were resisted so far because of fears that this would lead to a spurt in religious extremism in the Muslim-dominated country rocking its fragile democracy. “This recognition is a victory of extremists who want to Islamize the impoverished country,” said anti-fundamentalist politician Rashed Khan Menon
The IOJ is a partner in the four-party governing coalition under Zia which has been ruling the country since October 2001. The official recognition of the “Qauni” madrassas will qualify the graduates from these strictly Koran-based schools for getting government jobs. | Who beter to rule an Islamic state? |
The “Qaumi” madrasses are different from the Alia madrassas which are supervised and monitored by the government. A recent survey showed 15 per cent of the school-going children in Bangladesh go to madrassas. |