STAFF CORRESPONDENT

The Election Commission (EC) is set to introduce major changes to the education section of the National Identity (NID) registration form, allowing citizens to specify madrasa qualifications as well as advanced academic degrees.

Officials at the EC’s NID wing said registrants currently can only select broad education levels such as secondary, higher secondary, bachelor’s or master’s. Under the proposed changes, madrasa qualifications including Dakhil, Alim, Fazil, Kamil and Dawrae Hadith will be recognised separately.

Advanced academic and professional qualifications such as BSc (Engineering), MBBS, MS/MD, MPhil and PhD will also be included in the database.

Md Saiful Islam, director (Operations) of the NID wing, said the move is aimed at reflecting citizens’ educational and professional identities more accurately.

“A person spends years earning a degree, yet our database did not reflect it specifically. Now we plan to add higher education degrees in line with professional identity,” he said.

He said the initiative, now at a preliminary stage, would be formalised through legal and regulatory processes.

“The degrees will not be part of the name. The information will be stored as additional data under the profession section and would not appear on the physical NID card,” he added.

Explaining the rationale behind the proposal, Saiful Islam said a government doctor is currently listed simply as a government employee in the database, which does not indicate their medical profession.

“If MBBS or FCPS is mentioned under education, their professional identity becomes clear,” he said.

Similarly, madrasa graduates would also be able to specify their exact qualifications in the NID registration form, he added.