Arifur Rahman Rabbi :
Eight-year-old Yasin was brutally walloped by a madrasa teacher Yahiya at Al Markazul Islami Academy Hafezia Madrasa in Hathazari Sadar upazila on March 9, which has been viral on social media.
A strong condemnation arose in the country after exposure of such inhuman incident. The accused teacher has been arrested.
It is not lone case but one of many. So many times such incidents were being reported. But, the fact is that most of the victims did not get justice.
The most people said that the environment for learning is supposed to be joyful; contrarily it has become a panic most of the time.
Islamic thinkers say that torturing a child is a punishable crime from the religious point of view. Dhaka University’s Arabic department Professor Muhammad Abdul Ma’bud told the New Nation that such torture is a crime in education. Everyone has to think about it now.
The Madrasa Board and the Islami pundits should change the teaching method to stop child abuse. The teachers need to be trained immediately, he said. The sociologists suggest the authorities to be aware as well as cautious in hiring teachers.
Dr Md Mashiur Rahman, Professor of Social Sciences department in Dhaka University, said that physical and mental torture of students is not desirable in any way. Through this the students lose respect for the teachers and fall into lifelong trauma. Many times this trauma can cause other problems including physical and mental.
A standard will be set in the teacher employment policy, where what can he do or not. There will be guidelines on how to deal with students. And if he breaks the law or rules, s/he should be punished, he said.
Another incident of two madrasa students, Rakibul Islam, 14, and Mahfuzur Rahman, 10, were brutally tortured by their teachers at Savar went viral on social media and later police arrested the teacher named Ibrahim on September 14.
The victim Mahfuzur said that his classmate Rakibul could not bear the torture and fled. Later, Ibrahim found him and tied his hands and feet inside the madrasa and tortured him.
At that time, the teacher also brutally clubbed him for helping Rakibul to escape.
Asked what action can the state take if the family does not complain about this type of torture? Some officials of the administration and law enforcement agencies seeking anonymity said that immediate action could be taken if there was a mobile court.
But if there is a case of child abuse, it will go to the juvenile tribunal. Now, if you want to file a case, you have to make a formal complaint. Even the police file a case; the aggrieved party has to file a complaint in the court. But in most cases, the family does not want to complain, they said.
Nur Khan Liton, former Executive Director of the Ain O Salish Kendra and human rights activist, told the New Nation that there are allegations that students are often brutally beaten by teachers at residential madrassas in Bangladesh. But no one wants to complain against religious teachers.
Even many times the students and their families did not complain about sexual harassment for fear of embarrassment. But it is needed to lodge strong protest such incident for inflicting the punishment. Otherwise such incidents will not decrease, he said.
