Religious Minister Voices Concern Over Repeated Madrasa Abuse Allegations and Promises Tough Steps, as Oversight Faces Big Questions
Religious Minister Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaykobad has expressed deep concern as allegation after allegation of sexual abuse of child students surfaces in madrasas across the country, with teachers arrested and, in some incidents, children reported dead. Speaking to journalists after addressing the triennial council session of the Bangladesh National Imam Samity in Agargaon, Dhaka, as chief guest on Saturday, he said the government would take tough steps to prevent such incidents from recurring.
The High Court has given specific directives to prevent sexual harassment in educational institutions — including forming committees to receive and investigate complaints, ensuring redress, and taking action against those responsible. Alia-stream madrasas fall under the oversight framework of the education board and relevant government offices, while Qawmi madrasas are run through their own education boards and management. Yet with abuse allegations emerging in both streams, questions have arisen over how effective prevention systems are and how accountability is ensured.
Recently, cases were filed and arrests made over allegations of sexual abuse of child students at two Qawmi madrasas in Tongi and Gacha in Gazipur. In Banshkhali, Chattogram, a head teacher was arrested over allegations of repeatedly raping an eight-year-old student. In Daulatpur, Kushtia, a Qawmi madrasa teacher faces an allegation of attempting to rape a student. There have also been a case and an arrest over an allegation of rape of a student by a teacher at an Alia-stream Dakhil madrasa.
On 20 October, Mosleuddin, vice-principal of Qariul Quran International Madrasa at Madhya Auchpara in Tongi, Gazipur, was accused of sexually harassing a seven-year-old student. The child's family alleges the teacher kissed him against his will and threatened to beat him if he told anyone. The accused was arrested in a case filed by the child's father, and a court ordered him sent to jail.
In Pakuria village of Pragpur union in Daulatpur, Kushtia, Saeed Hossain alias Nannu, a teacher at the Qawmi-stream Darul Abrar Madrasa, faces an allegation of attempting to rape a nine-year-old third-grade student. The child's mother filed a case on 20 October; police arrested the teacher and sent him to jail.
At Darul Hedaya Qawmi Madrasa in Kalmeshwar, under Gacha Police Station in Gazipur, police arrested teacher Aliullah Islam and madrasa director Mohammad Mizan over allegations of repeatedly sexually abusing an eight-year-old residential student; they were sent to jail on 23 October. According to the case statement, no action was taken against the accused teacher even after the child's family complained, and there are also allegations of an attempt to hush up the incident. Three people were named as accused in the case, two of whom police have arrested.
In Banshkhali, Chattogram, the Rapid Action Battalion arrested head teacher Muhammad Ramiz Uddin on 3 August over allegations of repeatedly raping an eight-year-old madrasa student. According to the case statement, the child was a student of the Nazera section of Darussunnah Khairia Madrasa at Pashchim Chechuria Ghonapara in Bailchhari union, Banshkhali, and the teacher allegedly abused him at various times through intimidation after his admission. The child's father filed a case on 29 July under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
Earlier incidents have also raised questions of safety and accountability. In June 2019, teacher Hafizur Rahman was arrested in Sharsha, Jashore, over allegations of attempting to sexually abuse and murdering 12-year-old madrasa student Shah Paran. In March 2022, three teachers were arrested in Boalkhali, Chattogram, after the throat-slit body of eight-year-old Qawmi madrasa student Iftekhar Malekul Mashfiq was recovered. In Bharara, Pabna, local people detained teacher and director Md Abu Yusuf on 22 October over allegations of abusing and attempting to rape a student of Nur-e-Madina Women's Qawmi Madrasa and handed him to police; the next day, angry residents vandalised and set fire to the madrasa. In the Alia stream, Abul Bashar, a mathematics teacher at a Dakhil madrasa in Kasba, Brahmanbaria, faces an allegation of raping a sixth-grade student — a medical examination reportedly found the student three months pregnant; the teacher was later arrested.
Statistics also paint a worrying picture. According to the Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 118 children were raped and 46 faced attempted rape in the country from January to 20 May 2026. According to monitoring by the France-based human rights organisation Justicemakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF), 171 victims were documented in 131 incidents of sexual violence against boys from January to September 2026; 72 of those incidents occurred in madrasas, with 109 boys documented as victims and allegations against 81 madrasa teachers in 65 incidents. Another ASK count recorded 641 rapes of women and children from January to July this year — 400 women and 241 children. No organisation, however, keeps institution-wise separate statistics, so there is no month- or year-wise specific count of incidents in madrasas.
On 14 May 2009, the High Court Division delivered a directive judgment to prevent sexual harassment in workplaces and educational institutions — requiring complaint committees and preventive measures in public and private educational institutions, with the committee headed by a woman and including at least two members from outside the institution. The Bangladesh Madrasa Education Board directed affiliated madrasas to form sexual-harassment prevention committees on 30 April 2019; earlier, on 16 April, the Directorate of Madrasa Education issued a notice on forming committees and strengthening oversight. With recent incidents coming to light, questions have arisen over how far these directives are actually implemented in madrasas.
Lawyers and human rights advocates say institutional heads, too, must be held accountable if complaints are ignored. Zahid Hasan Fahad, joint secretary of the Rise for Rights Foundation and a Supreme Court lawyer, said that if the allegation that authorities took no action after being informed in the Tongi incident is true, it can be assumed the institution also has no functioning prevention committee under the High Court's directives. In his words, if ignoring a complaint or disobeying the directives is proven, not only the accused individual but also the institution and its head should be brought under the law; long afterwards, many institutions still have not formed committees or they are not effective, and those responsible should be held accountable where oversight of implementation is lacking. ASK senior coordinator Abu Ahmed Faizul Kabir said they do not keep institution-wise separate counts, but their observation is that rape and sexual harassment occur in madrasas as in other educational institutions, including cases of boys being raped there.
The Directorate of Madrasa Education's director (administration and finance), Muhammad Mozammel Hossain Khan, said: 'We regularly issue directives to prevent sexual abuse in madrasas. The directives are to be publicised and discussed in meetings with guardians at set times. These activities are monitored in the field through upazila secondary education officers. However, the directorate has no field-level direct monitoring system of its own.' He acknowledged that many such untoward incidents have occurred in recent times and that monitoring needs to be strengthened further. In the Qawmi stream, Al-Haiatul Ulya, formed of six education boards, coordinates recognition of the Dawra-e-Hadith (Takmil) certificate and related activities, but day-to-day oversight of every madrasa or investigation of complaints is not its responsibility — so the arrangements for child protection, complaint investigation and board oversight in Qawmi madrasas need to be made clear.
At the same event, the religious minister also said he would not hesitate even to shed his own blood for the country's imams, alems and Qawmi scholars, whom he described as the bearers of Islam. He urged everyone to stay alert so that no one can incite the destruction of religious harmony, and called on imams to speak strongly in Friday sermons against drugs, terrorism and other social crimes. Imam Samity leaders at the event raised various problems and demands, including increases in imams' pay and allowances. After the minister's announcement of tough steps, the question now is what measures are actually taken to address the gaps in forming prevention committees, investigating complaints and ensuring oversight in madrasas.
