Financing of Qawmi Madrasahs in Bangladesh: Sources, Practices, and Challenges

This thesis (Mohammed Abdul Khalek; Noakhali Science and Technology University; submitted 21 Sep 2025) maps the financing landscape of Qawmi madrasahs in Bangladesh. Using a mixed-methods design (financial surveys, document analysis, interviews and FGDs), it identifies primary revenue streams—zakat, sadaqah, local collections, waqf, and diaspora giving—and documents severe seasonality, weak bookkeeping, and governance gaps that endanger recurrent costs (teacher salaries, maintenance, learning materials). The study proposes context-sensitive measures to bolster financial resilience while preserving institutional autonomy (professional waqf administration, pooled zakat mechanisms, basic accounting capacity building, and small-scale income-generation pilots). Data anonymization and ethics procedures are described in the thesis.