1. Baseline study of Madrassa Project Principal Researcher - Saikh Imtiaz, Lecturer, Department of women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Statistical analyst- Md Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee, Lecturer, Institute of Health Economics University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Research Associate- Md Jakir Hossain, Independent Researcher & Project Officer Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka

2. Broad objective: To understand the link among gender ideologies, Islamic beliefs and existing knowledge attitude behavior and practices of Madrasa people regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights issues.

3. Specific objectives: To understand madrassas as Islamic Context in relation to the over all social change in the larger society To explore existing knowledge and practices of madrassa students on sexual and reproductive health issues from Islamic perspectives To identify exiting source of knowledge among madrassa students on reproductive and sexual health. To investigate madrassa gate keepers perceptions regarding young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights To asses the attributes of masculinities and femininities among madrassa students in relation to Islamic beliefs as practiced in the madrassas To assess the link between gender ideologies and existing practices regarding sexual and reproductive health with ‘contextual’ (i.e. ‘Alia’ and ‘Qaumi’ madrasa) variations

4. The central research question is- How are Islamic beliefs and practices related with gender ideologies, existing knowledge attitude behavior and practices regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights issues in Alia and

5. Following sub questions will generate answer for the central question – How can the madrassa’s be read in relation to the larger social change in the society for a sight of development intervention? What are the meaning of existing knowledge and practices of madrassa students on sexual and reproductive health issues from Islamic perspectives? What are the exiting sources of knowledge among madrassa students on reproductive and sexual health? How far these sources can satisfy the need of the young people as addressed by the project intervention? What are the madrassa gate keepers perceptions regarding young people’s sexual and reproductive health and rights? How such perceptions can influence the project interventions? How are the attributes of masculinities and femininities among madrassa students related to Islamic beliefs and practices? Why and how do the link between gender ideologies and existing practices regarding sexual and reproductive health vary between ‘Alia’ and ‘Qaumi’ madrasa ?

7. Findings of the Qualitative Study

8. –a)Madrassa’s are usually considered as holly places thus introducing sexual and reproductive health issues in the Madrassa context might be difficult. Nonetheless, Quami Madrassa are still more authoritarian in terms of access than the Alia Madrassas –b)Madrassa as Islamic contexts have continuously been undergoing changes. This change is reflected in the world view of the young students as well as the teachers irrespective of the Madrassa system. However, still a good number of teachers in the studied Madrassa are apprehensive about the implementation of the project activities. –c)Students are more interested about the project and they have more exposure to the ‘outside non Islamic’ world and in terms of this exposure it can be easily inferred that they have more similarities with the students of the ‘general education’ system irrespective of the Madrassa systems.

9. d) There exists the possibility of backlash if the project activities are not situated with in the ‘local context’ in terms of what it means by an ‘Islamic way’ of discussing about sexuality or ‘Sariah’ approved way. However, there exists difference of opinion among ‘Madrassa teachers’ about this. In most cases it seems that this means to discuss the issues maintaining the ‘gender dichotomy’ and using examples as many as possible from ‘Quran’ and ‘Hadith’. e) In most cases the students have never got any exposure to the ‘modern scientific knowledge’ regarding sexual and reproductive health, and there wasn’t any project interventions in any of the Madrassa’s except the Bogra ‘Zora’ Madrassa.

10. f)Most of the students irrespective of Madrassa system and sex don’t have clear idea about their body and functions of different organs. g)Misunderstanding regarding the body functioning place some young boys in vulnerable condition for sexual abuse. h)Most of the students believe following the guidance in ‘Fikah’ Sastra would help them to remain safe from any diseases including HIV/AIDS. However, some of them report that sometime because of the ‘Saitanik’ influence they fail to follow these rules though they don’t have any idea about how the HIV/AIDS spreads and how to remain safe from this.

11. f)Almost all of them know nothing about STD’s, their symptoms and ways to be safe from them. f)Female students seem to have ambivalent idea about their physical and mental well being. Many of them believe early marriage means getting married before puberty. They don’t have any idea about the possible danger and complicacy’s regarding early marriage and pregnancy

12. f)It seems that most of the young men and women in Madrassa context have developed a world view that makes them to think about sexual problems as equated with pollution and thus to avoid it. The need to be freed from such mental status. g)In most cases the only source for the male students treatment for any kind of sexual and reproductive health problems are the ‘traditional healers’

13. Findings of Quantitative Study

21. Gem Scale

23. Domestic Work 15 percent difference exists

24. Baby Caring

25. Accidental pregnancy

26. Decision at home should be based on Male members

27. Men are Always Ready to Have Sex

28. Women are repressed due to their own Cause