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Forum on Faith and Education in Bangladesh: Pathways to Pluralism

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Forum on Faith and Education in Bangladesh: Pathways to Pluralism Forum on Faith and Education in Bangladesh: Pathways to Pluralism The “Forum on Faith and Education in Bangladesh: Pathways to Pluralism,” a day-long event, was held at the Amari Hotel in Dhaka on January 7, 2020. The objective was to bring together scholars, faith actors, development practitioners and policymakers to reflect on education challenges facing Bangladesh and beyond, with a focus on education both by religious institutions and to promote religious literacy and understanding. It also focused on key challenges and prospects for pursuing pathways to pluralism through education. Panelists were drawn from diverse multidisciplinary backgrounds and over 130 participants attended. The forum aimed to examine specific roles that religious institutions currently play in education, both in terms of existing institutions as well as the pertinent curricula, notably in languages, social sciences, humanities, and religious studies. By putting Bangladeshi realities and experiences in conversation with similar realities elsewhere, the forum sought to foster joint learning, build regional and global networks of common ideas and sharing of experiences to work towards sustainable solutions. The Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), BRAC University, World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), and Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University jointly convened the forum under the collaborative project on Bangladesh Religious Dimensions of Development and Social Cohesion. OPENING REMARKS Opening the forum was Barrister Manzoor Hasan, OBE, executive director, Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University. In greeting the guests, he emphasized the important roles that faith plays in Bangladeshi society, observing that public education in Bangladesh should encompass more world religions in order to foster a more peaceful and civil society. Ms. Mia Seppo: UN Resident Coordinator for Bangladesh Mia Seppo highlighted the importance of diverse religious curriculum and civic values in the education sphere and the danger that extremist ideologies pose in some Muslim majority nations. She gave the example of the Taliban shooting Malala Yousafzai in Pakistan in an assassination attempt intended to silence the young education activist. While individual activists (like Ms. Yousafzai) have important roles to play in advancing pluralistic education, it is through the collaborative efforts of like-minded individuals working from different spheres of society that broader agendas for change can be truly moved forward. Diversity and pluralism are critical, given the deepening rifts in global society and the rising waves of divisive politics across the world. She commended the initiative to organize such a forum and encouraged those present to recognize the need to foster collective thinking and establish stronger networks for making education in Bangladesh more pluralistic. Dr. Samia Huq: Ph.D., Interim Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Associate Professor, Anthropology and Research Fellow of Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University. Dr. Huq presented a general overview of the project and emphasized the current situation of faith- inspired education in Bangladesh. She described the vast majority of faith-inspired education providers in Bangladesh as seeking to teach ‘for’ religion instead of ‘about’ religion. Such forums here in the country can advocate for teaching ‘about’ religion in a way that is collaborative, inclusive, and non-combative. Professor Katherine Marshall: WFDD’s Executive Director, Professor of Development, Conflict, and religion and Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University Professor Katherine Marshall highlighted the objectives set out for the Forum series and specifically for this event, focusing on challenges that lie at the intersection of development, faith, and education. Six areas of focus are pertinent in exploring religious dimensions of education challenges: (a) education delivered directly by religious entities; (b) education about religion; (c) education to inculcate religion; (d) educational of future religious leaders and scholars; (e) education that aims to reach neglected groups like refugees; and (f) education about civic values. The forum focused on the latter point regarding civic values but reflected on the previous five as well. 2 PANEL DISCUSSIONS Dr. Sudipta Roy: Faculty Fellow in Education at Colby College, USA, Director of American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, and research consultant at the World Faiths Development Dialogue Dr. Roy presented a summary of a forthcoming research review: “Pathways to Pluralism in Bangladeshi Education: A Review.” He outlined the team’s research on the topic and highlighted questions regarding diversity in Bangladesh’s religious sector, how social cohesion and pluralism are represented in textbooks and curricula, and descriptive characteristics of social cohesion and pluralism that emerged from the data. Notably, Dr. Roy and the team had undertaken a content analysis of the NCTB textbooks, finding that religious and cultural diversity in Bangladesh were not well presented in the texts, which, rather, focused on Islam and Bangladesh’s national superiority. Minority religions were often represented as ‘tokens’ in the texts, shown simply for the sake of including them rather than explaining their practice in-depth. Additionally, while gender parity is shown visually, social norms are still presented as patriarchal and stereotypical in the textbooks. In conclusion, Dr. Roy argued that the religious and secular platforms that address education requirements must work together and that if ideas of social cohesion are not well developed, the education that the poor (and others) receive will not properly prepare them to be contributing members of Bangladeshi society. Dr. Roy’s research is timely and significant as the government of Bangladesh is set to update the national curriculum in 2021 in an effort to make it more pluralistic and cohesive. Ms. Sun Lei: Education Specialist, UNESCO Dhaka Office Ms. Lei presented “Global Citizenship Education in the Twenty-First Century,” focusing on SDG goal 4 and target 4.7 which seeks to ensure the promotion of sustainable development and lifestyles through education by 2030. She defined global citizenship education as “education that gives us a profound understanding that we are tied together as citizens of the global community, and the 3 challenges are interconnected” and that GCE represents belonging to a broader community and humanity. According to Lei, GCE will equip individuals with relevant ‘soft’ twenty-first century skills to empower citizens to be responsible, creative, inclusive, and peaceful. Dr. Stephen Heyneman: Professor Emeritus of International Education Policy, Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations, Vanderbilt University, USA Dr. Heyneman’s presentation was titled “Religion, Education, and Development” and highlighted issues specific to regions where a single religious tradition is dominant as well as those specific to Bangladesh. He outlined the principles underlying the creation and foundation of public education and its benefits for social cohesion. The lack of opportunities to learn about interfaith attitudes and behaviors in Bangladesh can lead to a deterioration of a national sense of social cohesion and could lead some schools to be used as tools of propaganda. He gave different examples from other regions in the world where schools and texts taught different versions of history during times of conflict (Ireland and former Yugoslavia). Dr. Heyneman recommended the mandated registration of all students and madrassas to ensure that accurate numbers of enrollment are recorded in order to ensure proper governmental oversight. He also recommended the licensing of non-governmental schools and national objectives for educators and schools to ensure that students are being taught the values of civil society. Heyneman argued that schools can be used to solve social tensions, but they can also be used as a weapon to spread propaganda that leads to social unrest. In order to accomplish the positive ends, public schools should require that students learn about all major world faiths. He suggested a look towards the Singapore education model for inspiration. Dr. Jamhari Makruf: Lecturer and Deputy Rector of the Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Syarif Hidayatlluh, Indonesia Dr. Jamhari presented on “Nurturing Faith: Creating a Pious Person as a Good Citizen.” His presentation began with a snapshot of the political and religious landscape in Indonesia, noting how conservatism there has the propensity to turn into extremism. He then highlighted the differences between public and religious education and how drastically they differed. Dr. Jamhari argued that public schools benefited from very limited coordination among the ministries involved. Further, many texts reflect conservative and extremist ideology and intolerance to other major religions, and do not show respect to Indonesia as a nation. In religious schools, there was no overall control over curriculum as they are mostly private, but extremist ideology was limited and they tended to split allegiance between Islam and Indonesia. He highlighted the importance of introducing new subjects on comparative religion in schools to foster a deeper understanding between ethnic and religious groups. 4 Ms. Rasheda K. Choudhury: Executive Director, Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE)
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