Top Qawmi madrasa board bans physical punishments

Al-Haiatul Ulya Lil-Jamiatil Qawmia Bangladesh, the leading government-recognised board for Qawmi madrasas, has banned physical punishments of students under all circumstances.

The board, which constitutes six traditional madrasa boards, issued a press statement in this regard on Sunday, and as per media reports, a press release was issued Tuesday.

The apex board also called for immediate formation of student protection committees at all the constituent madrasas spread across the country.

Anyone found guilty of being involved in student repressions and of breaching the prescribes punishment rules will be subjected to an objective and neutral trial and will be met with justice under the country’s existing legal framework, it said.

Board Chairman Allama Mahmudul Hasan has issued instructions to this end, it said.

The directives have been prepared in light of the religious rulings issued by prominent Islamic educational schools and the writings of Islamic scholars including Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Jakaira Kandhalavi.

It also said the directives are aimed at countering the potential generalisation in public perception of questionable practices in a few qawmi madrasas as common practices in most such madrasas.

It said madrasa teachers must impose punishments with the sole aim to correct the students for their own welfare, and never out of vengeance or in a state of anger.

The punishment levels must be elevated progressively starting from soft warnings and ending at written letters to the students’ guardian asking them to co-operate in taking necessary corrective steps.

Physical punishments cannot be resorted to under any circumstances, it added. Furthermore, use of expletives, insulting remarks, taunts and other forms of verbal and psychological repression must be avoided, the board said.