Islamic Foundation to lose autonomy

The government has initiated steps to transform the Islamic Foundation from an autonomous institution into a directorate, bringing it under direct administrative control and potentially improving employment benefits for its staff.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs instructed the foundation on September 17 to prepare a comprehensive proposal outlining its organisational structure and manpower requirements from headquarters to divisional, district and upazila levels.

The move is part of a broader government plan to introduce an allowance- and training-based welfare system for more than one million religious personnel, including imams, muezzins and mosque attendants, as well as those serving temples, Buddhist monasteries and churches.

Islamic Foundation Director General Muhammad Muhibbullahil Baki told Jago News that the proposal was being prepared for submission to the ministry.

The views and approval of the foundation’s Board of Governors would also be considered, although no date has been fixed for its meeting.

The decision to transform the institution was taken at the seventh meeting of a government cell on August 4 as part of efforts to implement the ruling party’s election manifesto.