The Qawmi Education Rights Movement yesterday placed a five-point demand calling for full recognition of Qawmi education and equal access to higher studies and employment.
The demands were made at a seminar at the Dhaka Reporters Unity, where speakers also sought state recognition for Qawmi students who were killed and injured during the July uprising.
The other demands include granting national equivalence to all levels of Qawmi education up to the master's level in line with the existing law, removing all restrictions that prevent Qawmi students from pursuing higher Islamic education abroad, and formulating a law to establish an independent, non-government Qawmi university.
According to the platform, Sanabiyyah Aamah (10th year) should be equivalent to Secondary School Certificate (SSC/Dakhil), Sanabiyyah Uliya (12th year) to Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC/Alim), Fazilat (14th year) to Bachelor's (Degree/Fazil), and Takmeel/Daura-e-Hadith (16+ years) to Master's, which has already been recognised by the government.
Speakers said Qawmi students should be allowed to enrol in undergraduate, master's, MPhil, and PhD programmes at all public and private universities, and all barriers preventing Qawmi graduates from sitting for the BCS and other jobs should be removed.
They also urged the government to hold talks with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Muslim-majority countries to remove visa and administrative barriers and to introduce an educational exchange programme.
"Why should we not be considered capable of helping run the country? This narrow mindset must change. The Bangladesh of the future will be an Islamic Bangladesh," said
Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Majlish President Muhammad Raihan Ali said the Qawmi madrasa system has long been neglected.
"Even after so many years of independence, the education system has changed little. We are labelled 'fundamentalists' to suppress us. Recognition was granted but not implemented. Qawmi students are denied opportunities in jobs and higher education," he said.
Islami Andolan Bangladesh central leader Shamsuddoha Ashrafi said, "Our most urgent task is to preserve our distinct identity. When the state takes control, it imposes its own agenda. Qawmi education is a separate stream and must be evaluated on its own terms."
Speakers said more than 70 Qawmi students were killed during the July uprising while protesting alongside general students.