The Tragic Reality of the Secularization of
Education in Bangladesh

Throughout the history of Bangladesh, its education system has always been under the process of secularization from the policies implemented by the successive secular governments of the country. This sad state of the education system is now being taken several steps further by the current ruling government due to the disastrous decisions taken under the name of “modernization”. This process of secularization did not bring any good in the past and will not bring any good in the future for the Muslims of Bangladesh.

Right after the independence of the country when the constitution was founded on secularism, Sheikh Mujib, the then Prime Minister of the country and the brain child of the West, formed the first secular education commission named the Kudrat-e-Khuda Commission. This commission thoroughly ignored and sidelined Islam from the mainstream education and founded a strong base for secular education.

After the brutal assassination of Sheikh Mujib, the successive governments of Bangladesh had more or less implemented the same secular policy. But the secularization process received a new drive in 2010, when the Western-backed Awami government proposed a revised education policy in the name of “modernization” and formed a new education committee to further secularize the entire education system of the country.

While the old education curriculum was already on the secular foundation where Islam was always taught as a mere subject which had no relationship to the faith, history and culture of the Muslims of the country, in recent years after consolidating power in the political arena, the western-subservient Awami regime had taken numerous steps to eradicate all traces of Islam from the minds of the Muslim youths of Bangladesh. For example, the Government had deliberately appointed a significant number of secular, atheist and Hindu individuals in the key positions of the Education Ministry, National Education Committee and the National Curriculum Coordinator Committee (NCCC). The current education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid was a firm communist. The chief of the current National Education Committee, Professor Kabir Chowdhury is an extremely anti-Islamic minded person and already well-known for his hateful statements against Islam. Furthermore, the majority of the members of the National Education Committee are from secular or atheist backgrounds. Meanwhile the present NCCC Chairman and the Chief Coordinator are also from the Hindu minority. Moreover, those who have given the responsibility of writing and editing Islamic text books are either from the Qadiyani sect or secular Muslims living under the guise of practicing Muslims. These people have been relentlessly working to secularize the curricula of the education system and simultaneously create deliberate confusion about the Islamic faith among the students by providing controversial and conflicting information in text books.

For instance, there were numerous spelling mistakes in the Arabic terminology in the Islamic books related to words such as: the Qur’an, Taqdeer, Nabi, Rasul, Taqwa etc. to create confusion among students. In the 6th grade Islam book alone there were 58 spelling mistakes. Moreover, there were a significant number of mistakes in the verses of Quran, Hadith and even in Arabic dua. Even statements which are absolutely conflicting with the Islamic Aqeedah were found in the Islam books. In the 9th grade Islam book it was written that, it is forbidden to eat the animals except which are slaughtered in the name of Allah and idols.

Interestingly, after investigation it was revealed that these mistakes were not present in the books which were published in 2014 but have only been found in the latest additions of the books. Hence, the critics are saying these are actually deliberate mistakes to misguide the Muslim children of the country.

Furthermore, the Government has removed a number of old texts from the Bengali text books from 2nd to 10th grade which were related to Islam, Islamic history or morals and added new texts in the curricula written by renowned atheist or Hindu writers. For example: the short life story of Prophet Muhammad (saw), Abu Bakr (ra) and Umar (ra) were removed from the Bengali text books of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Even poems and passages written by prominent Muslim writers which were based on legendary Muslim characters or Islamic morals and values were eliminated from the Bengali text books from 5th to 10th grade.

Instead of Islam related texts an anti-Islamic poem has been added to the Bengali book of 5th grade, which was written by the notorious and self proclaimed atheist writer Humayun Azad. In that poem, the writer indirectly urged the young generation not to read the Quran, accusing it to spread fear and hatred. Additionally, stories related to Hindu belief, culture and traditions were added to the text books of 6th to 10th grade. Moreover, sex education is added indirectly in the name of Reproductive Health Education. A book named “Know Yourself” is added to the new curricula to teach children men-women relationships from the very young age.

In addition to all of these shameful acts, in the name of cultural education, the organization of drama, music, opera and dance programs and establishing dance, fine arts and theatre academies were made highly recommended in every village, town and community so that the young generation can be further diverted from the values of Islam. Along with this, the government has adopted a long-term plan to take Madrasa education under its control so that the little remaining knowledge related to Islamic jurisprudence, Quran, Hadith and Arabic language that is still alive in society could be completely eliminated.

Moreover, in recent times in an interview with a well-known TV channel Rtv, Abul Qasem Fazlul Haque, Professor of Dhaka University and a renowned educationist, has exposed the true agenda of the West regarding the education system of Bangladesh. According to his statements, the government provides text books to the students from 1st grade to 10th grade for free. The huge amount of money which the government needs to print and distribute these books to the millions of students is granted by UNICEF and UNESCO. Since independence, successive governments of Bangladesh had been receiving the money but the people of Bangladesh were unaware of the hidden agenda of these donor agencies. The donor agencies make sure that the syllabus should be formulated according to their secular and liberal guidance and in such a way which will not be beneficial for the students and they will not learn much from the education system. Their ultimate agenda is to keep the whole nation in ignorance and build an educated slave who will only fulfill the Western agenda and work against the interests of Islam and the Muslims of Bangladesh.

Hence, it is evident that all of these shameless actions of the government are very much planned and interconnected. Its ultimate objective is to strip off the Islamic identity of the Muslim youth of Bangladesh and indoctrinate them into non-Islamic cultures, so that they can never be aware of their golden history and lead their lives with the outstanding values of Islam. To achieve their hateful agenda and to please their colonial masters the current ruling class did not stop here. Within the last few months they have shut down a number of Islamic English medium schools throughout the country and put numerous restrictions on those which have been struggling to survive. Moreover, Quran memorization programs and teaching Arabic language have been forcefully stopped in several schools. Numerous Islamic study circles and Arabic language classes have been closed down so that the younger generation are kept away from any opportunity to learn about Islam anywhere in the society. Though the new education policies implemented by the government have earned widespread criticism and condemnation from different sectors of society, and especially from various religious groups, the government is adamant to implement them.

These desperate attempts of the puppet regime of the West has made it clear that Hasina and her western-serving government is afraid of the true revival of Islam in Bangladesh. Like the other parts of the world, the wave of true Islamic revival has also hit Bangladesh and a huge number of Muslim youth have already come under the fold of Islam, leaving behind the corrupt western lifestyle which is presented in such a dazzling manner by the secular media and other secular arms of the state. Moreover, these devout Muslims are the people who are ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of their faith. Hence, no matter how hard the government and their colonial masters try to stem the resurgence of Islam, the system of Islam, the Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood, will be re-established in Bangladesh and across the Muslim world very soon bi-ithnillah along with its education system, and it will destroy all the conspiracies against the Muslims of Bangladesh and the entire Ummah.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Fehmida Binte Wadud