 |
Madrasha Project - Madrasah Students Initiative for Adolescents Health in Bangladesh.
According to the total population in Bangladesh, 20 millions young generations, are under the age of 10-25. This huge number of young generations is growing awareness and concern about the fact that the sexual and reproductive health in this country, as well as in the South Asia Region which is characterized by high rates of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and STD/HIV infections.
The project aims to improve the knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights to increase access to youth friendly SRH services to Madrasah students, teachers, out of school youth parents/families, Imams and their community in 10 Madrasahs. This project will contribute to promotion of young people’s rights and gender equality among all stakeholders and partner organizations in Bangladesh. The project will attain to around 20,000 people including 5000 students, 500 teachers, and 5000 young people, 2500 families living in the locality of Madrasahs, Imams and other staff.
The project locations will include five districts (2 Madrasah – one Qaumi Madrasah and one Alia Madrasah): Bogra, Cox’s Bazar, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Dhaka. These locations are largely populated by poorest of poor and conservative population.
The system of Madrasah is a religious tempered form of education, isolated by sex, which offers an educational option to a significant portion of the poor and deprived population. The curriculum in Madrasahs is centered on Islamic studies and acquisition of greater understanding of Islamic principals that govern day-to-day lives of Muslims. The insular nature of this system coupled with political and religious sensitivity to issues surrounding adolescent sexuality and reproductive health, leaves limited avenues for Madrasah students to talk outside their peer group about their feelings, queries and anxieties pertaining to their sexuality and sexual health.
The people, related with the religious community, are not familiar with the sexual and reproductive health. They always try to keep their daily activities within the religious doctrines and rituals. Basically, they don’t want to involve themselves with this kind of ideology. They thought that it is totally contrary in religious point of view.
There are two types of Madrasahs in Bangladesh, namely Alia Madrasahs and Qaumi Madrasahs. Qaumi Madrasahs are private, receive no financial support from the government and are supported by religious endowments or by zakat and donations. They specialized in the teaching of the Arabic language and Islamic studies. The curriculum is not approved by the government. There are separate Madrasahs for male and female students. Most of the Madrasahs are for male students. The majority of the students are from extremely poor families. These religious educated young people are appointed for service in more than 250,000 mosques in Bangladesh.
Alia Madrasahs are government controlled. These Madrasahs teach all the modern subjects such as English, Bangla, science, social studies, mathematics, geography, history, etc. These Madrasahs are registered with and supervised by the government appointed Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board, which also prescribes the curriculum and syllabi and conducts examinations. These Madrasahs follow government curriculum, which is a combination of Islamic studies and regular school subjects such as mathematics, English and science, as well as co-education. A high proportion of students are from poor families. The students of Alia Madrasahs are relatively better off than the students of Qaumi Madrasahs.
Madrasah students have little knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health and infrequent access to SRH and HIV & AIDS related information and services. Most of them are guided by misinformation and superstitions. Madrasah students believed that AIDS is not in fact a disease, but a punishment (Gajb) from (Allah) God for free mixing of western people. This is thought to be because westerners learn about sex and practice free sex, thus casting them as sinners. It is also thought HIV & AIDS is a disease for sinners in which honest people will never be attacked by. This situation is very similar in the Muslim community in other countries of South Asia Region.
The programme output of this project will mobilize and influence society and policy makers to address the socio-economic, socio-religious, and legal factors contributing to SRHR, gender equity, HIV risks and vulnerability among Madrasah students. It will promote responsible sexual behaviour based on mutual respect and gender equality in sexual relationships. The programme intervention will contribute to establish the rights of access to SRH services and information. This project will make conscious to the beneficiaries about the sexual and reproductive health in their daily life.
Objective.
1.To increase youth participation in the promotion of sexual and reproductive health programmes and services in 10 Madrasahs in Bangladesh.
2.To improve knowledge and understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights among Madrasah students, teachers (and Imams) and their community in 10 Madrasahs in Bangladesh.
3.To increase access to youth friendly health services to Madrasah students, teachers (and Imams) and their community in 10 Madrasahs in Bangladesh.
4.To increase support for young people’s rights, and promote gender equality among all stakeholders and partner organizations in Bangladesh.
5.To contribute to increased knowledge on Islamic teaching relating to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
|
 |
