DHAKA: Bangladesh’s schools and universities have been asked to warn pupils about the dangers of religious militancy as part of a campaign to tackle Islamist extremism, an official said yesterday.
The government last week sent guidelines to the country’s 114,000 schools, seminaries and universities, AZM Nurul Hoque, a senior official at the education ministry, said.
“Militancy in the name of religion is a major problem. We hope such programme will help raise social awareness against the menace,” he said.
“We have asked the institutions to hold regular open talks with students to discuss militancy and its dangers.”
In August, an autonomous government-run body began monitoring sermons at the country’s more than 200,000 mosques to ensure clerics did not promote violence.
The Muslim-majority country also plans to integrate hundreds of Islamic religious schools into the mainstream secular education system.
Bangladesh has escaped serious Islamist attacks, though a series of blasts by militants in 2004-2005 killed dozens of people and prompted fears that the country would become a hotspot for extremism.
Last month, a young Bangladeshi man was arrested in a sting operation in the United States on charges of plotting to blow up the New York Federal Reserve.
AFP
