Secondary School Madrasas in Bangladesh: Incidence, Quality, and Implications for Reform

Mohammad Niaz Asadullah Department of Economics, University of Reading & Department of Education, University of Oxford Nazmul Chaudhury The World Bank Syed Rashed Al-Zayed Josh The World Bank

Draft: March 15, 2009

Human Development Sector South Asia Region

Acknowledgements

This study was made possible by generous funding from the EPDF Trust Fund. We also express our appreciation for additional funding and institutional support from the Education Unit of South Asia Human Development, World Bank as well as the Bangladesh Country Management Unit. The authors would like to highlight the services provided by the survey firm, DATA, who conducted this complex survey with utmost professional competence. Furthermore we are grateful to DATA for providing valuable statistical input in preparing this report. The authors are grateful from valuable comments and feedback received from the Ministry of Education and Economic Relations Division, Government of Bangladesh. The authors would also like to thank Rafiqul Huda Chaudhury, Markus Goldstein, Michelle Riboud, and Halsey Rogers for their valuable comments. This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank or the Governments they represent.

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Executive Summary 1. A unique feature of the Bangladeshi secondary education sector is the large presence of Islamic institutions of religious learning, commonly known as madrasas. However, unlike other countries in the region with large Muslim populations, the religious education sector comprises of both state regulated private madrasas as well as independent, private madrasas. The former are popularly known as Aliyah madrasas where alongside Islamic education, modern general education is also provided. Given that majority of these private registered madrasas