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by
November 2007
ROCARE / ERNWACA • Tel: (223) 221 16 12 • Fax: (223) 221 21 15 • BP E 1854, Bamako, MALI
Bénin • Burkina Faso • Cameroun • Côte d’Ivoire • Gambia • Ghana • Guinée • Mali • Mauritanie • Nigeria • Niger • Sénégal
• Sierra Leone • Togo
www.rocare.org
CONTENTS
page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii
Acronyms v
Acknowledgements v
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 The Background 1
1.1.1 The EDUCATION FOR ALL (EFA) imperative 1
1.1.2 The NON-FORMAL EDUCATION (NFE) imperative 2
1.2 The Research Problem 3
1.2.1 The Research Question 3
1.3 The Research Aim 4
1.4 Project implementation 4
CHAPTER II. THE METHODOLOGY 6
2.1 Methods and procedures 6
2.1.1 The Data Collection procedures for the Baseline Survey and the Case 7
Studies
2.1.2 The Procedures for collecting the Self-Completion Questionnaire data 7
2.1.2.1 The Preliminary steps 7
2.1.2.2 The achieved sample of “schools” for the Baseline Survey 8
2.1.2.3 The Contents of the Self-Completion Questionnaire 8
2.1.3 The Procedures for conducting the Interviews at each “school” 8
2.1.3.1 The sub-sample of “schools” for the interviews 9
2.1.3.2 The contents of the Interview Guides for the Individual Interviews 9
2.1.4 Some implications of the methodology 10
2.1.4.1 The Implications for the Work Plan 10
2.1.4.2 The Implications for the development of the Research Instruments 10
cross-nationally and for the Synthesis of the research findings
2.1.4.3 The Implications for the validity and reliability of the findings 10
2.2 The methods and procedures for the Data Analyses 12
2.2.1 The Discourse Analysis 12
2.2.2 The Curriculum Analysis 13
2.2.3 The Statistical Analysis of the Baseline Survey data 14
2.2.4 The Case Study Analysis 14
2.2.5 The Cross – National Analysis 15
CHAPTER III THE SYNTHESIS OF LITERATURE REVIEW 15
3.1 Historical Overview of Islamic Education: Madrassas and other Quranic 16
Schooling Centres
3.2 The Islamic School System 17
3.3 The Assessment of learning 19
3.4 The Teachers 20
3.5 Islamic education systems in other Muslim countries 20
CHAPTER IV THE RESULTS OF THE BASELINE SURVEY 22
4.1 PART A: The findings of the quantitative research 22
4.1.1 School Type and School location 23
4.1.2 School size and School enrolment 24
4.1.2.1. The Gender Ratio in “School” enrolment 25
4.1.3 The “School” Curriculum 28
4.1.3.1 The Curriculum framework ___ the strategic component 28
4.1.3.2 The time allocations for the programmes of study 29
4.1.3.3 Curriculum Control 29
4.1.3.4 The Skills Component of the curriculum 37
4.1.3.5 Vocational education and training 39
4.1.4 School Effectiveness 41
4.1.4.1 Internal Efficiency 41
4.1.4.1.1 The Pass Rates 41
4.1.4.1.2 The School Drop-outs 42
References 82
Acknowledgements
This report is the result of the combined efforts of ERNWACA’s National Co-ordinators
for Gambia, Mali, Niger and Sénégal, respectively and their research teams. The study
would not have been concluded without the active collaboration and support of a number
of organisations and individuals. In particular, my thanks go to the Directors and staff of
the Basic Education Directorates of these countries, to ERNWACA’s Regional Co-
ordinator, and to UNESCO’s officers, for their support in the project, particularly for the
pre-financing arrangements (without which some activities would not have started on
time) and for the cross-national workshops. My thanks also go to the respective
Arabic/Islamic Education Authorities in the four participating countries for their support.
I must also thank ERNWACA (Gambia)’s Scientific Adviser, Dr Yves Benett, for his
guidance on all aspects of project implementation, including his development of the
Analytical Framework, his translation of the literature review, his contribution to the
Synthesis of the Country Reports and his role as External Verifier. Thanks too to his
professional and technical team that made it possible to produce this Report. My thanks
go also to Dr Laouali Malam Moussa for his Synthesis of the literature review, and for
the translation and Synthesis of the Country Reports. I am very grateful too to all the
contributors to the Country Reports which have been submitted to UNESCO separately.
Thanks too to the managers of the Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres who
participated in the study, all of whom welcomed the researchers with unfailing courtesy.
Makaireh A N’Jie
Project Co-ordinator
October 2007
It is not for lack of specific appropriate initiatives on the part of the international community
and of the individual countries that there is apparently an inability to reach these goals in the
near future. Thus some of the initiatives are: (a) the NEPAD’s initiative for African countries “
to bridge the education gap” by working with development agencies and multilateral institutions
in order to ensure that the goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015 is realised
(Borishade, 2002) (b) the World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative that offers donor financing for
countries that give priority to primary education for all children, and (c) the initiative of
recruiting a “new type of teacher” known as “Contract teachers” (Duret and Bernard, 2004).
It is also generally acknowledged that the achievement of the Dakar goals in Sub-Saharan
Africa depends in part not only on the availability of financial resources but also on the ability
of the countries to expand their secondary school systems (Lewin, 2004) and on an overhaul of
their curriculum objectives and contents (Obanya, 2004; Bregman, 2004). What is advocated is
a broad-based curriculum reform which would feature a proper emphasis on life-related skills,
basic competencies and general pre-vocational skills in the lower secondary years whilst the
upper secondary years are devoted to reinforcing these skills, and at the same time to laying the
foundations for academic studies for those who are academically inclined, and to offering a non-
academic alternative curriculum to those who are not so inclined (thus preparing them for the
transition to the world of work).
For many Muslim families then, the NFE sector (through the Islamic schools) offers the only
educational opportunity for their children. Whilst the State provides the bulk of the Educational
Services through the public delivery system, the Islamic system of education is also available to
Muslim families, and the considerable importance of this system lies in the fact that it reaches
out to marginalized populations.
The specific objective of the research was to describe aspects of this alternative education system
(that operates in each of the targeted countries) by undertaking a cross-sectional Baseline Survey
of how, in each country, a sample of Islamic schools is organised and what they provide in terms
of Basic Education skills, life skills and livelihood skills — and in so doing to highlight how these
schools have been working for the social inclusion of traditionally excluded people (that is, out-
of-school youths, women and girls). The underlying idea was that an understanding of how the
conception of Basic Education in this alternative education system was being played out in
practice (in the Islamic schooling centres) could ultimately lead to the promotion of good practice
in the participating countries.
Three Project coordination workshops were organized in November 2006, May 2007 and August
2007, respectively. The first one was held in Dakar. It examined the data collection tools — the
questionnaire and the interview guides — and discussed the research process for the study —
sampling, sample size, timetable and the distribution of roles for the project team. The second
workshop was held in Banjul, after the researchers had submitted their own countries’ literature
review reports and the Project coordination team had synthesized these. The meeting appraised
the treatment of the questionnaire data, and decided on the variables to consider for cross
tabulations and data analysis. The third workshop took place in Niamey. It discussed the content
of the country reports, the structure of the final research report, the report’s recommendations and
the criteria for the selection of topics for a set of concept papers.
■ Definitions of terms
For convenience sake,
Introduction
The research design for this project derived from our conceptualisation of the entire group of
Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCs) in any one country as together constituting a
sector of the Islamic Education System of that country, namely, the sector for Basic Education and
Non-Formal Education. The design was informed by the review of the relevant literature and was
guided by the Research Aim and the Research Question.
The design was guided too by the idea that, in the process of organising themselves, Human/Social
systems undergo a process of evolution rather than one of just adapting to the external environment
and securing their survival (Banathy, 2006), so that the historical perspective on the Islamic Education
system in the literature review was necessary.
Another factor at work when designing the research was that the main “tool” in researching such a
system was the researchers’ reflections on the system’s procedures and practices, its relationships with
the community that it serves, its underlying values, its commitment to its purposes (and development
plans), and the constraints within the political- administrative framework which moulds its legitimacy.
In view of the foregoing and given UNESCO’s Terms Of Reference for this project, and
CONFEMEN’s (2006) vision for school management in francophone countries, the research plan was
to look closely at the performance of this sector of the Islamic Education System, that is, its inputs,
processes, and output. (Greaney and Kellaghan, 1996) But given the short duration of the project and
the fact that Education systems are complex “knowledge organisations” (Reimers, 1997), the research
focused on only two components of the management of the sector:
• The Governance and Administration component
• The Curriculum Development and Implementation component.
2.1 Methods and procedures
The research was in three stages and, in broad terms, these stages were as follows:
2.1.1 The Data Collection procedures for the Baseline Survey and the Case Studies
For the Baseline Survey and the Case Studies, data were collected in each country by means of:
(a) a structured Self-Completion Questionnaire (common for all the countries) that was filled
in by a sample of “Managers” of Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCs).
(The questionnaire was compiled originally in English and contained mostly fixed-choice
answers). For convenience sake the word “school” was used to refer to all the different
types of Islamic educational institutions in the targeted sector.
This combination of methods known as “triangulation” was necessary for exploring the
different aspects of the process of education in the sampled “schools”. In each country, the data
obtained by these various methods were brought together meaningfully through the data
analyses and through the Case Studies. However, regrettably no classrooms observations were
made as there had been no time for developing an appropriate grid and administering it. It is
acknowledged that such observational data would have contributed to an understanding of
programme delivery in the selected “schools”.
(b) The research team made all the necessary arrangements for the blank Self-Completion
Questionnaire to be delivered by trained enumerators to the sample of school
“Managers” and for all the questionnaires to be completed and returned to them (the
research team). However, in each country the recorded data showed missing values for
certain variables, and when that was so, the respondent cases were excluded from the
analysis.
Table 2.1:
The number of surveyed “schools” by
Country and School Designation
School Country “Schools”
Designation Gambia Mali Niger Sénégal Total
Madrassa (M) 50 12 15 28 105
QSC (Q) 23 9 34 13 79
Country Totals 73 21 49 41 184
For each category of stakeholders an Interview Guide was developed. It was acknowledged
that although some of the views expressed by the interviewees were likely to be internalizations
of externally imposed social norms, they would nonetheless reflect how the respondents defined
the situations they were in.
The Focus Group Interview was meant to complement these individual interviews — as such an
interview allowed for group interaction (with participants questioning each other and many
holding challenging views).
2.1.3.2 The contents of the Interview Guides for the Individual Interviews and for
the Focus Group Interviews
The interviews addressed a number of key issues including those about the following, at each
sampled “school” (see Appendix 2):
(a) the school’s Policies and Strategies (for example, the “schools”’ policies and strategies
for the education of girls and women and for staff development)
(b) Access to education and training (for example, the “schools”’ attempts to facilitate
access to basic education and to address community needs (for Education in Non-
Formal settings).
(c) the Curriculum (for example, Vocational training for meeting local needs, Skills
Development, and the relevance of the curriculum).
Although these interviews coupled with the Self-Completion Questionnaire had considerable
value, the researchers sought to provide, in addition, a qualitative description of the culture of the
“schools”. However, the question of obtaining a representative sample (in the statistical sense) of
“school” events, behaviours, interactions, procedures, and layouts did not arise in such a
constrained piece of research. The researchers could only attempt to sample a few school events
and behaviours, as they moved about in the schools and in the local communities.
2.1.4.2 The Implications for the development of the Research Instruments cross-
nationally and for the Synthesis of the research findings
In order to facilitate the cross-country Synthesis of the research findings, the following
research instruments were developed for all the four participating countries to use, albeit with
some latitude for accommodating the preferences of each country:
(a) a common set of items for the Self-Completion Questionnaire (SCQ),
(b) a common set of questions for the Interview Guide for the individual interviews of the
“schools”’ “Managers”
The assumption was that the set of educational concepts embedded in the research instruments
(and uncovered partly from the review of the relevant literature) was shared by the four
countries, in spite of geographical and linguistic differences between the countries __ and that
the respondents in the Baseline Survey had a broadly similar understanding of these concepts.
It was also assumed that this set of educational concepts would serve the purposes of the
subsequent cross-country analyses (see Section 2.2.4). As a consequence, the respective,
original English versions of the instruments were translated into French for use in the three
francophone countries.
2.1.4.3 The Implications for the validity and reliability of the findings
A challenge that was inherent in the use of these so-called research “instruments” was to
ensure that they yielded valid and reliable information. An important concern was that the
method of “triangulation”, on its own, was not sufficient for establishing validity (Mason,
2005). The research strategy was therefore to ensure that in each country, in addition to
achieving a random sample of schools, the requirements for “ecological validity” and “content
validity” were met. For this reason, the research instruments were grounded initially in the
“realities” of the local Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres in The Gambia,
through:
(a) discussions with key informants (such as officers of the Madrassa Unit and of the
Directorate for the Curriculum in the Ministry/Department of State for Education, and
the Head of the General Secretariat for Islamic/Arabic Education in The Gambia),
(b) the involvement of the key informants in the development of the instruments.
All these activities, together with the review of the relevant literature locally, ensured that the
pertinent issues were covered and for each issue an adequate sample of items was obtained
from the domain of content.
Yet another approach to the vexing issue of validity was that prior to the administration of the
instruments a validation workshop was held in Dakar for the four participating research teams
to scrutinise the instruments and agree their contents. The teams confirmed the content
validity of the instruments and, importantly, ascertained the similarity across the participating
countries in the meanings of the incorporated educational concepts. Subsequently, as part of
the research process, two more validation workshops (one in Banjul and the other in Niamey)
were held in order for the four research teams to consider jointly the data collected and the
way that they were to be analysed.
Turning to the reliability of the research instruments, the research teams ensured that, the
enumerators who were recruited for the project spoke the local dialects and were trained by
them to administer the research instruments. The aim was partly to minimise any difficulties
that the questions that were included in the instruments might pose to the respondents, such as
difficulties with the wording of the questions (in the Self-Completion Questionnaire),
difficulties with the respondents’ vocabularies, and difficulties with understanding the
underlying educational concepts — even though the questions were well focused and were
conceptually clear.
For reliability purposes too, in Senegal and in The Gambia, the process and verification of
data entry by computer were entrusted to specialist computer agencies in order to ensure that
the entered data were as error-free as possible. Nevertheless, it was not possible, in the
circumstances, to ensure that, in the field, the procedures for administering the research
instruments were uniform across the four countries and that the translations into the different
local dialects were always adequate.
The sources of data for these various analyses were the Desk Study, the Baseline Survey and the
Case Studies
In each country the curriculum at the sampled “schools” was examined against:
(a) some key concepts that underpin curriculum design (such as those of curriculum
relevance, learner-centredness, experiential learning, functional skills, core curriculum,
and stakeholders’ participation in curriculum reform)
(i) all the categorical variables (such as, School Designation and Type of school)
(ii) all the grouped variables (such as Age and School Size)
(b) the Means (Average) and Standard Deviations for all the continuous variables (such as,
School fees and the Number of teaching hours allocated, per week, per subject area.)
The analysis of the SCQ data went on to establish whether there were statistically significant
associations between the so-called “independent” variables, such as the location of schools (as
Rural or Urban) and the “dependent” variables (such as the provision in the Secondary School
curriculum of a “Vocational Training” option.
The proposition underlying this extended statistical analysis was that the potential of the
surveyed institutions hinged on the programmes of study that they offered and that these
programmes in turn, were contingent on the characteristics of the “schools”, such as their
Location (Rural/Urban) and Type (Private/ Community/ Government). The argument was that
African educators, working jointly with the World Bank (ADEA, 1995) had identified the
factors that characterise effective State schools within National Education Systems and that
CONFEMEN (2006) had recently outlined strategies for improving the management of National
school systems in francophone countries. It was therefore deemed important to find out which
“school” characteristics were significantly associated with the effective management of
“schools” in this parallel Education System (across the four participating countries).
CHAPTER III:
SYNTHESIS OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
It emerged from the review that Islamic education has existed in these four countries at least since the
twelfth century and that such education is well established in spite of the various difficulties created by
governments during the colonial era and subsequently. Indeed, in the last twenty years or so, the
vitality of Quranic teaching has known something of a revival under the leadership of national and
international religious associations and Islamic multilateral organisations and institutions.
The literature review indicates also that the flexibility of this Non-Formal framework for Basic
Education is convenient for the destitute and for the less affluent, forced to combine education with
the search for basic means of survival. In the four countries, hundreds of thousands of young people
and adults acquire literacy as well as life skills through Quranic schools — for example, in Niger the
population of such learners is estimated to be about 340,000 — including a significant number of
youth attending formal schools simultaneously. The literature review revealed also that the above
mentioned revival has generated innovative Quranic Schooling Centres which offer modern
alternatives to the traditional Quranic Schools while competing with the formal bilingual offers
developed by governments. These new Quranic Schooling Centres have developed curricular reforms
which consist of incorporating secular subjects matters into the learning agenda.
Despite the important role it plays in the lives of Muslims, in general, and in Sub-Saharan Africa in
particular, Islamic Education is insufficiently researched at present. Educational Statistics ignore it
and its educative potential is underrated. Such an attitude is suicidal in African countries south of the
Sahara that cannot meet the social demand for education within the formal system, in spite of the
human and financial resources devoted to such education. The education-related Millennium
3.1. Historical Overview Of Islamic Education: Madrasas And Other Quranic Schooling
Centres
Seeking knowledge is an integral part of the Islamic cultural tradition. Indeed, the Holy Koran
reports that the first interaction between Prophet Muhammad (May Peace & Blessing of Allah be
upon him) and the Angel Gabriel was an invitation to read. Numerous other testimonies underline
the importance of searching for the revealed knowledge and the secular knowledge.
After the death of the Holy Prophet (SAW), the Muslim scholars sought guidance for their daily
lives in the sayings and way of life of the prophet and thus came about the development of the
knowledge of “Sunna” (the deeds of the prophet) and of “Hadith” (the sayings of the prophet).
The mosque continued to be the centre of learning and the knowledge acquired through mosque-
based education was used to govern the lives of people in the Arabian Peninsula who were
speaking the same language. However, as Islam spread to other regions that had different
cultures, traditions and languages, it became necessary for the Muslim experts to write textbooks
in different languages on different aspects of Islamic education including “Fiq” (Islamic
jurisprudence), “Sunna”, “Hadith” and “Tafseer” (the interpretation of the Holy Koran), in order
to cater for the needs of the non-Arab Muslims. This development marked the beginning of the
Madrassa as the centre of higher learning and the objective was to preserve religious conformity
through the uniform teaching of Islam for all (Uzama, 2003).
Historians maintain that Islam had been introduced in Africa as early as the year 26 of the
“hegira” when Caliph Uthman ordered Abdallah Ibn Saad to go on an expedition to Egypt in
order to spread Islam. Hiskett (1984) throws further light on the early history of Islamic education
in Africa, with the suggestion that there are significant historical facts that show the presence of
Islam in the Kanem-Borno Empire since the seventh century. Such conversion requires a basic
knowledge of the Koranic text not only for prayer, but also, for learning the religious precepts of
Islam, and the ways and means of imparting such knowledge. From Egypt, merchants and
Muslim scholars introduced Islam in the states neighbouring the Sahara via home teaching and
mosques before the establishment of Koran Schools. The latter were meant for the oral learning
and memorisation of verses from the Koran.
Further developments occurred through pilgrimage and sending students to Fès (in the case of the
Mali Empire) and to Cairo (for the Kanem-Borno). These exchanges brought about a qualitative
change in African Islam making it a religion of the written word rather than an oral phenomenon
and one that shifted, as Malam Moussa (1997) observes, from being the thing of the political and
Synthesis of studies 2007_11_30 reworked .doc 16
economic elite to becoming that of the people following the tenth century immigration of Muslim
nomads, of the Kharijite denomination, who were running away from the Fatimides after the
defeat of Abu Yasid. The recent development of Koran schools took place at the end of the
eighteenth century under the reform initiatives of Cheick Ousmane DAN FODIO (the founder of
a theocratic kingdom in the HAUSA states and the Adamawa region of Cameroon), and EL
KANEMI (who instituted a system of government based on Islamic precepts in the BORNO
empire). In the Sudan (Mali), one could name great historical figures, such as El Hadji Oumar
TALL, Sékou AMADOU, Cheick Mohamed Lamine DRAME, Cheick Ahmad Hamadou
LAHOU and Samory TOURE.
To conclude this historical perspective mention must be made of the testimonies of Europeans and
Arab travellers who reported the presence of Islamic schools in Africa, south of the Sahara.
Among them were Ca Da Mosto (in 1455), d’Almeida (in 1578), Mungo-Park (in 1799), and Ibn
Battuta (1961) who described in detail how the populations of West Africa lived, notably those of
Mali.
Quranic schools are well established in West Africa and appropriated by the population as its
school, the “true” school (MAKARANTA, in Hausa); in opposition to the Western school
nicknamed MAKARANTAR BOKO or the false school. The principal characteristic of these
traditional Islamic schools is that they don’t require investment in any specific location or
Mature students, are free to adjust their time-tables in accordance with the requirements of their
socio-professional occupations. Table 3.1 below shows the innovations introduced by the New
Islamic Schools as well as the differences of their programmes of study.
Table: 3.1
Some characteristics of programmes of study
at the Traditional Islamic/Quranic Schools and at the New Islamic Schools
All the three targeted francophone countries in the study have known developments in Islamic
Education along the lines indicated above, from the year 2000 to date. For example, the Ministry
of National Education in Senegal has authorised the creation of 272 franco-arab schools between
2002 and 2006, with 66 of these at Primary School level. In Mali the teaching of the Arabic
The Gambia presents a case in point of how the curriculum for the Madrassas has undergone
considerable reform in recent years. As part of the process of implementing the Government’s
Revised Education Policy (1988-2003), a unified syllabus for both the schools in the formal sector
and the Madrassas was developed for Basic Education (that is, for Primary /Lower Basic Schools
and Junior /Upper Basic Secondary Schools). The development was undertaken by the General
Secretariat for Islamic Arabic Education in the country (which was established in 1996) and
focused on the following subjects: (i) Islamic Studies; (ii) Arabic Language; (iii) English
Language; (iv) Mathematics; (v) Science and Health, and (vi) Social and Environmental Studies.
By contrast, Madrassas use the formal system of evaluation of students’ achievements which
consists of end-of-term and end-of-year assessments of learning, and of examinations at the
completion of Grade 6, Grade 9 and Grade 12. The results are used as criteria for students’
promotion to the higher Grades. All the schools sit the examination at the same time and the
selected teachers assemble in one place for the marking of the students’ scripts. Senior teachers
validate the marked scripts, after which the results are published.
Students can transfer from Islamic to mainstream schools. The Al Azhar University offers degrees
at Bachelor’s and Master’s level in Islamic Studies, Dentistry, Commerce and Medicine.
Graduates serve, generally, as Islamic readers, scholars, and spiritual leaders both within and
outside Egypt.
In Indonesia there are madrasas operating on day school basis as well as boarding ones. They
offer primary, lower secondary and upper secondary levels of education using the national
curriculum and make use of extended hours to provide basic Islamic education. Graduates from
the upper secondary level of accredited Madrasas qualify for entry to universities. The majority
are privately owned and less expensive than public schools making them the main educational
opportunities in rural areas.
Bangladesh has also two types of madrasas, namely the Quomi and the Aliya. The first one
resembles West African traditional Koran School in that they teach Islamic subjects including the
Koran and other Islamic ethics and are not controlled by the State educational system. These
Madrasas do not keep student enrolment records. They maintain a hard line attitude towards so-
called modern thinking. The poor quality of teaching in languages leaves children with
insufficient literacy in languages. The Aliya madrasas on the contrary teach both religious and
secular subjects and are recognised by government. They are the counterparts of the emerging
modern Islamic centres of West Africa.
The Islamization of Africa has, de facto, introduced Quranic schools in the four countries that are
participating in the present study and hence the development of literacy in the Arabic language.
Although enrolment in these schools was at first limited socially and numerically, it has increased
through the centuries, in spite of the adverse colonial and post-colonial governance of these
countries. Indeed, there is an argument that, as a framework for the socialisation of the young,
Quranic schools have in many cases served as a catalyst for resisting the political, economic and
cultural domination of the West. But putting aside this argument, and given that for two decades
now, it has become apparent that the Western type of Basic Education is no longer able to keep its
promises (about, for example, employment for school leavers), because of the collapse of the
economic fabric, there looms at present a renewed interest in Islamic education, in the different
forms that it takes nowadays. In point of fact, in the collective consciousness, such an education
articulates well both with the culture of the local community and with the development of
exchanges with the rest of the Muslim world.
Another consideration is that the importance of ensuring access to Basic Education for all children
of school-going age has been well stressed worldwide (including Africa) since the 1990 Jomtien
conference on Education For All. It is apparent from this literature review that the Islamic
schools in the four participating countries contribute significantly to improving access to Basic
Education, even if the quality of the education provided by their self-styled teachers is quite
insufficient.
The literature review points to the need to discern connections between the Islamic Schools
system and the Non-Formal sector of the economy. Indeed, the Baseline Survey in Chapter II
includes to some extent the Islamic schools that are piloting the integration of practical skills
In conclusion, it seems useful to note that the national governments included in this study are
beginning to give to Education its full meaning and to formulate their orientation in a way that
will ensure that Departments of State for Education cease to position themselves as ministries for
formal State schools only. With the State taking the Islamic schools into account to some extent,
there is now a new perspective on attaining the objective of Education For All, and there is an
opportunity to help train the Quranic teachers and develop curricula, as the World Bank has
intimated when referring to its work for the Islamic community in West Africa (Prouty, 2006).
CHAPTER IV:
THE RESULTS OF THE BASELINE SURVEY
Introduction
This Chapter presents the results of the Baseline Survey in two parts as follows:
PART A: the findings of the quantitative research
PART B: the findings of the qualitative research
The chapter seeks to provide a composite picture of the Madrassas and of the other Quranic Schooling
Centres (QSCs) and to portray something of their perspectives on education.
Throughout an effort was made to link the results from the questionnaire to the relevant findings from
the literature review (in Chapter III) and from the wider literature about schooling; and, it was deemed
important to highlight throughout the more glaring similarities and differences between the four
countries. However, as explained in Chapter II, there was no intention of undertaking a
comprehensive, cross-national comparative study of the sector.
The findings of the qualitative research in PART B are reported in section 4.2
Given the wide diversity of “schools” in the sector, the Managers themselves were asked to specify
the designation of their “schools” as Madrassas or Quranic Schooling Centres.
Table 4.1 shows that all the 41 sampled “schools” in Sénégal and the vast majority (95%; N=21) in
Mali were “Privately owned”. This was not so in the sampled “schools” from Gambia and Niger,
respectively. In these countries there were other “types” of “schools” in addition to the “Privately
owned” “schools”. In Gambia 52% (N=50) of the Madrassas were said to be “Community”
“schools”, as were a few (26%; N=23) of the other QSCs. On the other hand, in Niger, there were no
“Community” “schools” but instead there were ten Government Madrassas while the other QSCs
(N=23) were sponsored by various bodies such as UNICEF and ISESCO.
Table 4.1:
The number of surveyed “schools” by Country, “School” Designation,
Socio-economic area, and Type of “school” (in the Year 2005/6)
Gambia Niger
Type of Rural Urban Type of Rural Urban
Sub-total Sub-total
“School” Area Area “School” Area Area
Privately owned 9 14 23 Privately owned 0 5 5
Madrassas
Madrassas
Community 15 11 26 Community 0 0 0
Government 0 0 0 Government 4 6 10
Other 0 0 0 Other 0 0 0
Sub-total 24 26 50 Sub-total 4 11 15
Privately owned 9 8 17 Privately owned 3 8 11
Community 2 4 6 Community 0 0 0
QSCs
QSCs
Government 0 0 0 Government 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0 Other 12 11 23
Sub-total 11 12 23 Sub-total 15 19 34
Grand Total 73 Grand Total 49
Mali Sénégal
Type of Rural Urban Type of Rural Urban
Sub-total Sub-total
“School” Area Area “School” Area Area
Privately owned 4 7 11 Privately owned 5 23 28
Madrassas
Madrassas
Community 1 0 1 Community 0 0 0
Government 0 0 0 Government 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0 Other 0 0 0
Sub-total 5 7 12 Sub-total 5 23 28
Privately owned 4 4 8 1
Privately owned 12 13
Community 0 0 0 Community 0 0 0
QSCs
QSCs
Government 0 0 0 Government 0 0 0
Other 0 1 1 Other 0 0 0
Sub-total4 5 9 Sub-total
1 12 13
Grand Total 21 Grand Total 41
[Note: QSCs means Quranic Schooling Centres, other than Madrassas. The “schools” that were of the Type
categorised above as “Other” were sponsored by organisations such as the Islamic Solidarity Association for
West Africa in Gambia, the Union of Muslim Women of Niger, and UNICEF ]
Table 4.2 gives the number of “schools” by size while Table 4.3 shows the growth in the total
student enrolment in the surveyed “schools” in the years 2003/04 to 2005/06.
The figures in Table 4.3 show a “country differential” in total enrolment in the sampled institutions,
with the surveyed Madrassas in Gambia and in Mali but not in Niger enrolling consistently, more
students than the QSCs in recent years,. However, this finding masks the wide variations in
enrolment at the level of the individual “schools”. Thus, in the year 2005/06, most Madrassas across
the four countries had enrolled between 50 and 1,000 students, but in Mali and in Gambia a few had
admitted more than 1,000 students; indeed one in Mali had enrolled around 2,000 students whilst
one in Gambia had enrolled as many as 3,500 students (approximately).
Table 4.2:
The number of surveyed “Schools” by Country, “School” size, and Designation of
“School” (in the Year 2005/06)
[Note: M stands for the Designation Madrassas
Q stands for the Designation other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCs)
* one non-response reduced the sample size to this number of “schools”
GAMBIA MALI NIGER SENEGAL
Size of “School” (N=73) (N=21) (N=49) (N=41)
M Q M Q M Q M Q
SMALL
Less than 50 students 1 6 0 1 0 8 2 3
MEDIUM
Between 50 to 1,000 students 42 15 10 8 9 25 26 10
LARGE
More than 1,000 students 7 2 2 0 5 0 0 0
Table 4.3 and its accompanying diagrams (Figures I to VII) depict the relationship between the
Year of enrolment and the Gender Ratio (GR) in the total student intake in recent years in the
surveyed Madrassas and other QSCs.. The increase in the Gender Ratios in Sénégal’s Madrassas
and in Niger’s QSCs are simply remarkable. In Niger, not only was the Gender Ratio in its
Centres in Year 2003/04 probably contrary to expectations, but it even reached the phenomenal
figure of 1.77, in the Year 2005/06. However, such a level of Gender Ratio required a closer look
at the enrolment data and it then emerged that in some institutions the number of girls enrolled
had doubled or even trebled that of boys, and that six of the 34 QSCs were female only
institutions.
Continuing with the focus on the Gender Ratio (in the sector), its steady rise in the Gambian
Madrassas contrasts vividly with the pattern of change in the ratio for the Gambian QSCs, as it
moved sharply upwards in the year 2004/05, only to fall to its lowest level the next year. Many
factors can affect the participation of women and girls in education in developing countries
(Brock and Cammish, 1997a) and cause changes in the GR, but this particular fluctuation in the
GR was probably due to one of the QSCs increasing its recruitment of female students tenfold in
one year (from 10 in Year 2003/04 to 100 in Year 2004/05) while another QSC, in contrast to this
expansionist strategy, reduced its female enrolment level by half (from 400 girls in Year 2003/04
to 200 girls in Year 2005/06), and yet another QSC started to recruit girls for the first time in Year
2004/05.
0.80
10,846 7,564 18,410
2004/5 (58.9%) (41.1%) (100%)
0.70 0.75 0.72
0.70
0.70
0.68
0 .8 5
0 .8 0 0.76
1,017 880 1,897
2004/5 (53.6%) (46.4%) (100%)
0.87 0 .75 0.72
0 .70
0.53
2004/5 3,837 2,217 6354 0.58
0.55
(60.4%) (34.9%)
0.50
0 .3 5
0.32
0.30
2004/5 1,360 314 1,674 0.23
0 .3 0
(81.2%) (18.8%)
0 .2 5 0.23
1.30
1505 2075 3580
2005/6 1.38
(42.0%) (58.0%) (100%)
1.10
0.90 0.82
0.68
0.70
[Note: the enrolment data for the QSCs in Sénégal
were not available]
0.50
2003/4 2004/5 2005/6
The Gender Ratio for enrolment in Mali’s QSCs is a cause for concern as it seems pegged at
around 0.3, and indicates that although female enrolment is on the increase it is still lagging
behind male enrolment.
Table 4.4 shows only a small part of the considerable body of data about the “school” curriculum
for the sector. Nevertheless, the programmed Subject Areas together with the average number of
teacher-student contact hours allocated weekly for each of them provide a representation (albeit
an over-simplified one) of what was taken to be the “strategic component” of the curriculum __ as
in curriculum reform (ADEA, 2004). In addition, the table reflects a conceptualisation of the
curriculum as an ordered, authoritative, corpus of knowledge which has to be imparted by
teachers to learners through a structured presentation of subject matter in each named Subject
Area. Such a conceptualisation was evident in The Gambia (DoSE, 2003; GSIAE, 2004) and in
other countries too (Taylor and Muthall, 1997) and may be questionable (Obanya, 2004).
However, it proved useful for the purpose of curriculum analysis in the present study, given that
this report is concerned with summary and synthesis and that it attempts to get across, as
concisely as possible, a portrayal of the curriculum pattern and content for the sector.
Looking closely at the design of the strategic component of the curriculum, a striking feature is
the inclusion of a Core of Subject Areas, the term “Core” meaning here that part of a programme
of study which is common to all students (Benett and Tuxworth, 1984). The rationale for Core
studies in a particular programme of study is that the currency of the qualification to which the
programme leads is much assisted by such an identifiable, validated, core of learning in and
between programmes of study.
An analysis of the objectives and contents of the syllabuses for the Core studies across the four
countries surveyed was beyond the scope of this study. However, Table 4.4 lends weight to the
observation from a reading of the literature review (see Chapter III) that an academic perspective
stands out in the selection of Subject Areas for the Core and that, understandably, pride of place is
given to Islamic history, religious traditions, and the Arabic language __ judging from the balance
within the Core studies in terms of the share of the respective time allocations for the components
of the Core.
Another distinctive design feature of the framework is that the organisation of the Core may be
characterised as a hybrid of the “collection type” (Bernstein, 1975) of curriculum (with clearly
bounded subjects, like Mathematics and a country’s Official Language, insulated from each other)
and the “integrated type”, (with the “subordination” of previously insulated subjects like Science
and Computing to some issue/theme, such as the effects of Science and Technology on the
Environment). Regrettably, the scope of work for the present study did not allow the researchers
As already indicated, Table 4.4 shows the average of the total number of weekly time-tabled,
teacher-student contact hours for each Subject Area for each Level within the Sector (that is, the
Primary school/ Secondary school/ Mature students Levels). Only the Subject Areas that are
common to most of the countries are included in Table 4.4. Also, for the Technical/ Business
Subject Areas and the Peripheral Subject Areas, the respective number of contact hours shown is
the sum of the time allocations for the individual components of these Subject Areas.
The Average (Mean) contact hours for each Subject Area was calculated by first totalling for each
Level, the number of contact hours time-tabled for each Grade within the Level, for that Subject
Area, and then averaging over the number of schools that provided the relevant data, within each
of the two categories of “Schools” (that is, the Madrassas and the other QSCs). This Average (or
Mean) indicates the typical number of contact hours (for each Subject Area at each Level). Where
there was evidence of variability across the “schools” in the total number of time-tabled weekly
contact hours, for a particular Subject Area, this variability was expressed through the
specification of the Maximum and Minimum numbers of contact hours (instead of being
summarised by the Standard Deviation, in keeping with conventional statistical practice).
Reflecting upon the data in Table 4.4, a revealing feature was precisely the marked variability in
the time allocations for the Subject Areas, within the one and same country, at all Levels of
schooling, and in both the Madrassa sub-sample and the sub-sample of other Quranic Schooling
Centres ___ although a response rate for an SCQ item that was too low did not warrant any
reliable statistical analysis of the variability. To pick out an illustrative example, the range in
teacher-student contact hours at the first Level of schooling in the Madrassas, in Gambia, was
from 120 hours (maximum) to 2.8 hours (minimum) for Islamic Studies, and from 100 hours
(maximum) to 3 hours (minimum) for the study of the Arabic Language. Other examples of such
lack of homogeneity in the weekly time allocations were found in Niger, where the time
allocation at the first Level for French (the official language) varied from 90 hours (maximum) to
7 hours (minimum) and in Mali where in the Lower Basic/Primary Schools a minimum of 9 hours
and a maximum of 67.5 hours weekly were allotted to the study of the Arabic language.
Average No. of allocated contact hours, per week, per Subject Area
7 to-12 yr olds (Grades 1 to 6) in Lower Basic/ Primary 13 to 16 yr olds (Grades7 to 9) in Upper BasicJunior
Level
School or equivalent setting Secondary School or equivalent setting
Subject Areas Country GAMBIA MALI NIGER GAMBIA MALI NIGER
Range of M Q M Q M Q M Q M Q M Q
allotted time N=50 N=23 (N=12) (N=9) N=14 N=35 N=50 N=23 (N=12) (N=9) N=14 N=35
Max: in hrs 120.0 51.0 5.0 28.0 60.0 33.0 3.0 9.0
Average in hrs 33.3 26.9 5.0 8.2 18.6 17.0 3.0 9.0
Islamic Studies Min: in hrs 2.8 2.1 5.0 .75 3.1 1.3 3.0 9.0
(n) 46 13 12 0 10 31 13 3 0 4
Max: in hrs 37.0 42.0 5.0 90.0 12.0 3 14.0
Official Average in hrs 13.1 21.5 5.0 51.5 30.0 7.4 3 12.5
Languages
Arabic Min: in hrs 3.0 6.0 9.0 3.0 18.0 2.3 3.0 21.0 1.75 15.0
(n) 46 6 12 3 8 1 30 6 3 3 5 1
Max: in hrs 60.0 24.0 30.0 50.0 22.0 12.0 16 15.0
Other Core Subject Areas
Average in hrs 13.5 21.0 22.0 17.6 5.0 8.0 10.5 15.3 10.7
Maths: Min: in hrs 1.9 18.0 9.0 6.0 2.2 9.0 15 5.0
(n) 48 2 12 0 10 1 30 2 3 0 6 0
Max: in hrs 36.0 12.0 6.0 7.0 18.0 6.0
Science & Average in hrs 11.7 6.7 6.0 4.0 5.56 3.7
Health Min: in hrs 1.5 2.0 6.0 1.0 2.3 2.0
(n) 38 3 2 0 2 0 23 3 0 0 0 0
Max: in hrs 28.0 24.0 42.0 11.5 24.0 12.0
Social & Average in hrs 9.2 21.0 12.8 8.7 5.6 10.5 7.0
Enviro: Min: in hrs 1.0 18.0 3.0 2.0 2.3 9.0
Studies (n) 38 2 4 0 6 0 24 2 0 0 1 0
Max: in hrs 24.0 7.2 20.0 17.0 12.0 6.0 6.0
Technical/Business Average in hrs 6.0 7.1 9.6 3.0 5.9 6.0 5.7 6.0
Subject Areas * Min: in hrs 1.3 7.0 4.2 2.3 3.0 5.0 6.0
(n) 12 2 11 0 1 0 6 3 3 0 5 0
Max: in hrs 25.0 19.5 15.0 72.0 13.0 9.8 6.0 6.0
Peripheral Subject Areas Average in hrs 8.5 10.8 6.9 15.6 4.1 6.7 5.0 5.17
** Min: in hrs 1.5 3.0 2.7 2.7 0.8 2.0 3.0 1.0
(n) 32 6 11 0 3 0 18 3 3 0 6 0
Official Language Min in hrs 3.0 3.0 4.0 1.5 1.5 4.0
(n) 13 0 1 0 6 4 3 0 0 4
Max in hrs 36.0 60.0 15.0 105 13.0 4.0 14.0 4.0 30.0
Average in hrs 16.2 26.6 15.0 36.2 9.4 15.0 2.3 6.5 4.0 13.2
Core Subject Areas
Arabic Min in hrs 4.5 9.0 15.0 1.75 5.0 1.5 1.5 4.0 5.0
(n) 12 4 1 3 5 1 3 3 0 0 3 13
Max in hrs 11.0 16.0 2.3 15.0 5.0
Other Core Subject Areas
Average in hrs 5.8 12.0 2.0 9.8 1.6 9.5 4.5 5.0
Maths: Min in hrs 3.0 5.0 1.5 4.0 4.0
(n) 11 1 1 0 6 4 2 0 0 4 1
Max in hrs 13.0 2.3
Average in hrs 5.7 6.0 1.9 1.5
Science & Health Min in hrs 2.0 1.5
(n) 9 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
Max in hrs 10.0 12.0 2.3
Social& Enviro: Average in hrs 5.6 6.5 3.0 1.8 1.0
Studies Min in hrs 3.0 1.0 1.5
(n) 9 2 0 0 1 3 1 0 0
Max in hrs 15.0 6.0 2.0
Technical/Business Subject Average in hrs 10.0 4.4 3.0 2.0
Areas Min in hrs 6.0 2.0 2.0
(n) 3 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 3
Max in hrs 17.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 2
Average in hrs 4.5 5.0 4.33 2.2 2
Peripheral Subject Areas Min in hrs 1.0 3.0 2.0 0.8 2
(n) 10 0 3 0 6 6 0 0 0 4
[Note: M stands for the Designation Madrassa; Q stands for the Designation Other Quranic Schooling Centre ; N stands for the Sample Size; (n) stands for
the Number of “schools” that actually responded for that Subject Area * Technical/Business Subject Areas include Agriculture, Woodwork, Metalwork, Business
Studies,Home Economics, Technical Drawing and Arts & Crafts.;** Peripheral Subject Areas include Music Singing and Physical Education ].
The table exposes a major difference between these two countries in curricular pattern even
though both countries require Primary School/ Lower Basic School children in Madrassas
to learn both the Arabic language and the Official language of the country. That difference
was particularly marked in the relative emphasis on the study of the two languages as
indicated by the total amount of time devoted as a proportion of the total weekly time-
tabled contact hours: about 71% in Niger against 32% in Gambia. This difference in
emphasis prompted a close attention to the literature review (in Chapter III) as it narrates
the growth of Bilingual (Franco-Arab) schools in Niger (and also in Mali and Senegal),
particularly since the year 2000 —— although Niger’s Country report states that “the 15
bilingual schools operating in the formal system do not have the freedom to expand their
programs to new publics”.
Pursuing this line of enquiry while continuing to look at the detailed survey data available
for Gambia, it transpired that in the Gambian curriculum the Islamic Studies were at the top
of the list of Subject Areas for the Lower Basic/ Primary “schools”, followed by the study
of the Arabic language. Moreover, summing up the time allocations for these two Subject
Areas showed the proportions of the total weekly contact time for the Arabic Language and
for Islamic Studies standing at about 49 per cent for the Madrassas at this level against 37
per cent for the other QSCs at the same level but reaching about 67% in the QSCs at the
Senior Secondary School level with the two subjects in reverse order and this proportion
below the 77 per cent prescribed by the General Secretariat for Islamic/Arabic Education in
Language
Govt 15.4 14.8 13.9
CORE SUBJECT AREAS
Official Language
CORE SUBJECT AREAS
the country for the Madrassas (see Chapter III). Thus the figures in Table 4.5A and B make
the point that, quite clearly, in Gambia these are the studies that are perceived to be central
to the lives of students when they attend the Madrassas or the other QSCs. Indeed, this
thrust of the educational provision in both the surveyed QSCs and the Islamic/Arabic
Educational authority’s curriculum framework contrasts sharply with that of the Gambian
Government for, the curriculum pattern in the State schools is one that is almost completely
evenly balanced during the early years of schooling but changes to one which jettisons
religious studies at Secondary School level except on an optional basis and is highly biased
towards Technical/ Business Subject Areas, presumably at the behest of contemporary
economic, social and political demands. Such a conspicuous contrast raises questions
regarding the agreement between the Government and the General Secretariat for
Islamic/Arabic Education in The Gambia about synchronising the respective syllabuses for
Basic Education in the State Schools and in the Madrassas, and also about the syllabuses
Looking further into the balance struck between the components of the Core Subject Areas
in Gambia (again, in terms of the proportions of weekly time allocations and not against
any stated specific educational objectives and competencies to be developed), Table 4.5A
also shows that Science and Health at the Lower Basic/Primary school level in the
Madrassas was allocated almost twice the time allotted at the QSCs for that same Subject
Area, thus implicitly making clear the relatively high value attached to this area of study —
specially when compared with its almost complete omission in Niger’s curriculum through
the years of Secondary School education. On the other hand, turning to the time allocated
to the three remaining Core Subject Areas (namely, the Official Language, Mathematics
and Social & Environmental Studies), the direction of the difference between the Madrassas
and the other QSCs was reversed, that is, for each of these Subject Areas proportionately
more time was timetabled weekly at the QSCs than at the Madrassas.
■ The relative values of the Technical /Business Subject Areas and of the Peripheral
Subject Areas
The “Managers” of the sampled institutions had also been questioned about the respective
number of hours of formal teaching/ learning that were time-tabled, weekly, for the study of
the individual subjects within the Technical/ Business Subject Areas (such as Woodwork,
Metalwork, Home Economics, and Arts & Crafts). Their responses brought home in stark
form, that in Gambia this particular component of the curriculum was marginalised at the
start of schooling both in the Madrassas and in the other QSCs, with only about 5.2% of the
weekly contact hours devoted to it ___ even less time than that allocated to the Peripheral
Subject Areas (such as Music and Physical Education). However, whilst at the QSCs the
studies in the Technical/ Business Subject Areas, were confined to the Basic Educational
cycle, at the Madrassas these studies were given more importance after the Basic Education
cycle, with the proportion of time-tabled weekly contact hours rising to about 14% although
this increase is nothing like that in the State Schools (where the proportion reached 44.5%)
and masked the fact that Home Economics was not covered at all in the surveyed “schools”.
Information about the number of teacher-contact hours allocated for the Technical/
Business Subject Areas at the QSCs was singularly lacking in the three targeted
francophone countries. However, technical subjects are taught in the Sénégalese Madrassas
(according to its Country Report). Also, in Niger the teaching of this subject matter in a
few Madrassas would appear to be concentrated at the upper end of Basic Education Cycle,
and at Senior Secondary School level, whilst in Mali there was provision for such teaching
Turning next to the Peripheral Subject Areas, Physical Education and music (including
singing) were not available at the Quranic Schooling Centres other than the Madrassas —
even though it was acknowledged that the former is important for good health and the latter
for education of feelings.
On the understanding then that .without such skills one is likely to be doomed to work in
the least secure areas of the labour market or to leave it altogether, and that with regard to
the “schools” curriculum its relevance includes preparing students “not for to-day’s world
but for society as it will develop in the next fifty years” (Vespoor, 2003), the “school”
“Managers” were questioned about the coverage of the Skills component of the curriculum
at their “schools”. In the event, even a cursory glance at Table 4.6 shows that, the response
rate was low, presumably, because few “schools” across the four targeted countries, and at
all the levels of education, were able to handle this component of the curriculum
comprehensively. That said, on a close analysis of the data for the five Categories of skills
mentioned above (see Table 4.6), it emerged that there was a clear dividing line in the study
of Functional Budgeting for the household between, on the one hand Mali and Sénégal
offering it, and on the other hand Niger and Gambia making no provision for it. Evidently
too, the study of Personal Skills (such as working with others in teams and showing
concern for others) and the Studies of Peace Building and tolerance ranked relatively high
in terms of the number of “schools” that claimed to cover these studies widely or fairly
Table 4.6:
The number of surveyed “schools” that covered the Skills Component during
at least one of the educational cycles by School Designation, Skills Category and
Country (in the academic Year 2006/07)
GAMBIA MALI NIGER SÉNÉGAL
Skills Category M Q Total M M Q Total Total
(N=50) (N=23) (N=73) (N=12) (N=15) (N=34) (N=49) (N=41)
Studies of Peace
Building and 25 10 35 10 9 15 23 0
Life Skills
tolerance
Studies of gender
15 9 24 3 5 11 16 0
equity
Functional
Budgeting for the 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4
household
Functional literacy
13 1 14 8 1 10 11 1
Employment
in the Official
Skills for
Language
Functional
18 1 19 4 4 7 11 0
Mathematics
Computer literacy 3 0 3 0 2 3 5 0
Enterprising
Marketing 0 2 2 2 2 5 7 0
Skills
Developing
1 2 3 2 2 5 7 0
Business ideas
Personal Skills
16 5 21 8 13 28 41 0
(e.g.teamwork)
Other Skills
Learning Skills 20 7 27 6 9 12 21 0
Operational Skills
(eg problem 13 3 16 4 9 10 19 0
solving)
[Key: M = Madrassas; Q = Quranic Schooling Centres other than Madrassas;
N= the number of such designated “schools” in the survey sample]
Regrettably, organisational records of the time-tables and programme contents for the listed
skills were hard to come by in the surveyed “schools” ___ as were relevant official
documents from the Islamic Education Authority and from the Gambian Government,
except for the policy pronouncements of the latter. Consequently, the notion of examining
Table 4.7 summarises the findings. A first point of interest in the table was that the lack of
any provision of vocational education and training for the Out-of-school Youth and the
Mature students in Niger’s Madrassas stood in stark contrast to the level of provision for
such student groups in its other Quranic Schooling Centres and to the equally sizeable
provision in the Sénégalese Madrassas.
A second point of interest was the almost complete absence of any provision for vocational
education at Junior Secondary/ Upper Basic School level in all four countries at their
Quranic Schooling Centres other than Madrassas — probably reflecting a consensus view
Whether there was a formal system in place for introducing girls to traditionally male-
dominated subjects (such as Engineering) was another question raised in the study.
However, most respondent “schools” across the four countries were silent on this issue
except for two Madrassas and one other QSC in Sénégal .
Yet another picture that emerged from the survey was that whilst in Niger the offers of
vocational education were in all the traditional technical and commercial subject areas
(such as Engineering, Construction, Business ,and the Retail industry), in Gambia the offers
were mostly in the areas of Hospitality and Catering, and Health and Social Care , ___ and
surprisingly, not in Travel and Tourism or in Construction given the country’s recent
accelerated developments in these industries. However, lurking behind this issue may be
the question of the values being advanced through the curriculum. Putting it differently, it
may be that the Gambian providers of vocational education in this sector of the Islamic
Education system were not subordinating their educational practices to the national goal of
economic development but were delivering instead an education which is more attuned to
their philosophy of life, with their ideas about social affairs and about religious teaching
firmly clinched.
Table 4.7:
The number of surveyed “schools” that included the option to
pursue a Vocational Education programme by
Student Group, School Designation and Country (in Year 2007)
Student SENEGAL
GAMBIA (N=73) MALI (N=21) NIGER (N=49)
Group (N=41)
M (n=33) Q (n=8) M(n=6) Q(n=3) M (n=13) Q (n=3) M (n=24) Q (n=3)
Junior
Secondary/ 6 0 2 0 3 0 12 1
Upper Basic (18.2%) (0.0%) (33.3%) (0.0%) (23.1%) (0.0%) (50%) (33.3%)
School Group
M (n=31) Q (n=8) M(n=6) Q(n=3) M (n=4) Q (n=22) M(n=23) Q (n=4)
Out-of-school
Youth, Adults, 4 1 2 0 0 11 11 2
or Women’s (12.9%) (12.5%) (33.3%) (0.0%) (0.0%) (50.0%) (47.8%) (50.0%)
groups
[Key: N = the total number of such designated “schools” in the survey sample
n = the total number of respondent “schools” that provided education for this student group
M stands for the Designation Madrassa;
Q stands for the Designation Other Quranic Schooling Centres]
MALI (N=12)
School Year
School year 2004/05
2005/06
Male Female Male Female
Grade 6 No. who sat the 335 113 383 135
(Final Year examination n=5 n=4 n=5 n=5
at Primary/ No. who passed the
306 98 264 115
Lower Basic examination
School) Pass Rate (%) 91.3% 86.7% 68.9% 65.2%
Grade 9 No. who sat the 114 37 148 35
(Final Year examination n=3 n=3 n=3 n=
at Junior No. who passed the
110 28 145 34
Secondary examination
/UpperBasic
Pass Rate (%) 98.5% 75.7% 98.0% 97.1%
School)
o.
N who sat the 19 76
Grade 12 examination n=1 n=0 n=1 n=0
(Final Year
No. who passed the 19
at Senior 16
examination
Secondary
School) Pass Rate (%) 100% 21.1%
The Repetition rate is another important indicator of internal efficiency but it was thought
unrealistic to expect the “school” “Managers” to produce the relevant data on time.
Referring to Table 4.9, the Gambian Madrassas were the only ones for which the set of
data necessary for estimating the drop-out rate (for the Basic Education cycle) was
complete and sufficiently large. It is clear from the table that an increasing number of
Madrassas were entering students for the two end-of-cycle examinations and also that an
increasing number of female students from both rural and urban districts were taking the
Grade 6 examination. However, a higher proportion of female students were dropping
out from the Community Madrassas than from the Private Madrassas in Grade 6 and in
both rural and urban areas. The reverse though was happening in Grade 9, except in the
Year 2004/05 with the dramatic drop-out rate of almost 10% (n=81) in the Community
Madrassas. The factors associated with the drop-out rate among female students,
specially among rural teenage girls are well-known (see, for example, Kent and Mushi,
1995), and the present study did not therefore seek to explore this issue.
As Table 4.10 shows, on the evidence available, Gambia, Mali and Sénégal were the only
countries in the survey where there was an embryonic tracer system. Referring to Table
4.10, it is clear that the pattern of entry into the labour market in Sénégal, Mali and Gambia
was rather similar to the extent that the sectors of employment in which school leavers were
most likely to be employed were Agriculture, the Wholesale & Retail industry, the Social &
Recreational Services, the Personal Services, and others (such as Domestic work).
Table 4.10:
The number of surveyed “schools” that had a formal tracer system in place
in Year 2007 and the destinations of young “school” leavers by
Country and Employment sector
[Note: no “school” in Niger had a Tracer system
N = the total number of surveyed “schools”
n = the number of respondent schools in the respective category]
GAMBIA MALI SENEGAL
(N = 73) (N=21) (N=41)
Madrassas QSCs Madrassas Madrassas &
(N=50) (N=23) (N=12) QSCs (N=41)
Rural Urban Rural Urban
Sector of employment Urban (n=4) Rural & Urban
(n=12) (n=12) (n=9) (n=4)
Agriculture 9 10 9 2 2 6
Fishing 1 8 4 2 0 0
Manufacturing 9 3 9 0 0 0
Construction 10 7 8 0 0 0
Wholesale & Retail 8 10 9 3 1 18
Hotels & Restaurants 0 5 1 2 0 0
Transport, Storage &
5 9 9 1 0 0
Communication
Public Administration
7 9 9 0 0 0
& Defence
Social & Recreational
9 8 9 1 1 1
Services
Personal Services 7 9 9 0 1 1
Other (e.g domestic
0 3 0 0 1 1
work, self-employment)
An important finding from the Managers’ completed SCQs was that the school fees at the
surveyed “schools” varied a great deal across Grades/ Levels and “School” Locations
(Rural/Urban) within each country. It was difficult to summarise these variations but the
following extract from Niger’s country report gives some idea of the variability:
Out-of Other
Student 3-6 yr 7-12 yr 13-16 yr 17-19 yr Women’s
school Adults student
Group olds olds olds olds groups
youth groups
Range of
“School” fees per 100-400 100-5,000 100-5,000 100-2,800 20-400 100-400 100-500 100-200
month, per student
No. of respondent
“schools” 14 23 22 17 24 11 15 4
(N = 49)
[Note: the currency is the CFA; Key: N= the number of sampled “schools” in Niger]
Table 4.12:
The Average size of Governing Councils by Country, in Year 2007
GAMBIA MALI NIGER
Madrassas (N=50) Madrassas (N=12) Madrassas (N=15)
Maximum = 80 Maximum = 15 Maximum = 22
Size of
Average (n=46) = 15 Average (n=11) = 9 Average (n=13) = 11
Councils
Minimum = 3 Minimum = 3 Minimum = 5
Gender No. of All Female 0 No. of All Female 0 No. of All Female 0
Make-up of No. of All Male 9 No. of All Male 10 No. of All Male 2
Councils Average GR for others 0.50 Average GR for others 2.00 Average GR for others 0.43
QSCs (N=23) QSCs (N=9) QSCs (N=34)
Maximum = 35 Maximum = 10 Maximum = 32
Size of
Average (n=13) = 9 Average (n= 3) = 7 Average (n=14) = 8
Councils
Minimum = 3 Minimum = 2 Minimum = 16
Gender No. of All Female 0 No. of All Female 0 No. of All Female 4
o. o.
Make-up of N of All Male 3 N of All Male 2 No. of All Male 6
Councils Average GR for others 0.21 Average GR for others 1.00 Average GR for others 0.68
[Key: N= the size of the survey sample; n= the relevant number of respondent “schools”;
GR=Gender Ratio (that is, the ratio of the number of Female Council Members to the number
of Male Council members)]
Turning next to the other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCs) in Niger, the general thrust of
the data was that only 14 (41%; n=34) of the centres were under the authority of a
Governing Council, and that 10 of these Councils were single sex (six with an all male
membership and 4 with an all female membership), although the Centres themselves were
not necessarily single sex.
Based on the sample of “schools” surveyed, it was clear that the participation of the wider
local communities in the work of the Governing Councils was much valued in Mali and in
Gambia as around 60% to 65% of the respondent “schools” claimed to have mobilised such
participation. A rather different picture emerged from Niger and from Sénégal, with the
wider community’s participation on the Governing Councils in Niger reported in only three
Madrassas and one QSC, and in Sénégal in only eight of the urban institutions — though in
five of the six rural institutions.
The reported data in Table 4.13 show that Islamic Scholars sat on the Governing Councils
of almost all the Madrassas in Mali and in Gambia, and in 53% of the Madrassas in Niger,
independently of their types and locations. However, Table 4.13 presents a different
picture for the other QSCs with a lesser representation of Islamic Scholars in Niger (29%;
n=34) and in Gambia (56%; n=23) but not in Mali where they sit on the Governing
Councils of all the QSCs.
GAMBIA NIGER
o. o.
N of Professionally Qualified* Managers with N of Professionally Qualified* Managers
Years of Professional Experience ** with Years of Professional Experience **
Less than More than Less than 3 to 15 More than
Gender 3 to 15 years Gender
3 years 15 years 3 years years 15 years
Madrassas
Madrassas
(n=5) (n=22) (n=18) (n=2) (n=7) (n=5)
(N=50)
(N=15)
Male Male
(n=36) 3 18 15 (n=14) 2 7 5
Female Female
(n=1) 0 1 0- (n=0 ) 0 0 0
Sub-total 3 19 15 Sub-total 2 7 5
(n=3) (n=8) (n=10) (n=2) (n=14) (n=16)
Male Male
(n=19) 2 7 10 (n=2) 0 2 0
QSCs
QSCs
(N=23)
(N=34)
Female Female
(n=1) 0 1 0 (n=6) 2 4 0
Sub-total 2 8 10 Sub-total 2 6 0
MALI SÉNÉGAL
o. o.
N of Professionally Qualified* Managers N of Professionally Qualified* Managers
with Years of Professional Experience ** with Years of Professional Experience **
Less than 3 to 15 More than Less than 3 to 15 More than
Gender Gender
Madrassas
Madrassas
Male Male
(n=2) 0 0 2 (n=7) 0 1 6
total 0 0 2 total 0 5 6
Mali and Sénégal stand out as the countries in this study with the lowest proportions of
professionally qualified and experienced “Managers” in charge of Madrassas and other
QSCs respectively— and all of them males in both countries!.
Niger presents a perplexing picture of the management of the QSCs other than Madrassas
with only 23.5% (n=34) of the “Managers” being professionally qualified and experienced,
and indeed with the majority (62%; n=34) view among them that the notion of a
professional qualification in Education (for “Managers”) was “not applicable” in their
Table 4.15 shows the high proportion of Professionally qualified, male and female, full-
time teachers in Mali and in Niger as well as the relatively small proportion in Gambia. The
table is also of interest because of the disproportionately small number of women teachers
in this sector of the Islamic Education system and because it would suggest that such
gender imbalance in the appointment of teachers in the sector could be a built-in systemic
“problem”.
It is possible to explore further the tabulated data and determine the average number of
professionally qualified teachers per “school”, but the result would be meaningless given,
on the one hand, the extent of personalised learning and of one-to-one tuition and, on the
other hand, the relatively large size of the teaching force in the larger institutions, such as a
Table 4.15:
The proportion of Professionally Qualified, Full-Time, “School” teachers by
School Designation, Gender and Country, in Year 2007
[Note: As used here, the term “Professionally Qualified” means having a College or University
Certificate/Diploma or Degree in Education.
Key: M = Madrassas; Q = other Quranic Schooling Centres
N = number of surveyed “schools”; n= number of respondent schools; ]
GAMBIA MALI NIGER
Full-Time (FT)teachers in (N=73) (N=21) (N=49)
Madrassas and other QSCs Gender (n=65 ) Gender (n=21) Gender (n=38)
male female male female male female
Number of (FT) Qualified M 240 29 159 23 153 97
“school” teachers Q 71 2 31 0 65 24
“school”teachers Q 121 1 0 0 9 1
GAMBIA NIGER
The number of “schools” that The number of “schools” that
sponsored their teachers sponsored their teachers
on College of on In-House on College of on In-House
Type of Education- School-based Type of Education- School-based
School based courses courses School based courses courses
Privately– Privately–
Madrassas
Madrassas
owned (n=23)
3 (13%) 5 (22%) owned (n=5)
0 0
(N=15)
Community(n Community
(N=50)
=26)
6 (23%) 8 (31%) (n=0)
0 0
Government Government
(n=0)
0 0 (n=10)
0 4 (40 %)
Privately– Privately–
0 2 (12%) 0 0
QSCs
QSCs
(N=23)
(N=34)
MALI SÉNÉGAL
Privately– Privately–
owned (n=11)
0 10 (91%) owned (n=18)
2 (11%) 8 (44%)
Madrassas
Madrassas
Community Community
0 0 1 (14%) 4 (80%)
(N=12)
(N=28)
(n=1) (n=5)
Government Government
(n=0)
0 0 (n= 2)
0 0
Other Other
(n=0)
0 0 (n= 2)
0 2 (100%)
On the evidence available from the study, what came to light was a picture of a very
diversified provision of facilities, services and programmes for local communities on the
Synthesis of studies 2007_11_30 reworked .doc 55
part of the surveyed “schools” (see Table 4.17). To be specific, a striking finding was that
the Sénégalese Madrassas focused on programmes for Poverty Alleviation and ICT, in stark
contrast to their opposite numbers in Mali where the focus was on the provision of
Counselling Services and of Teachers’ living accommodation. However, this pattern of
narrowly delineated provision was different from that found in Gambia and in Niger. The
former had established a comprehensive array of “School-Community” partnerships for
meeting the needs of local communities; and in the latter there was evidence of a wide
range of burgeoning partnerships, such as the partnership of a rural Quranic Schooling
Centre which offered a whole gamut of facilities, services and programmes to the local
community, whilst providing specialised educational programmes for Out-of-school Youth
groups and Non-Formal Adult Education groups.
A closer look at Table 4.17 shows that the relatively high percentage (48%, n=27) of
Madrassas that offered ICT services in Sénégal contrasted sharply with the complete
absence of any such offer in Mali either in its Madrassas or in its other QSCs. On the other
hand, Mali’s offer of Counselling Services in almost the entire sample of its “schools”
(95%; n=21) was not matched by the other countries, although Gambia’s offer of
Counselling Services in 82% (n=73) of all its “schools” was relatively substantial; and these
services could include “serving as mediators to solve problems”, advising about “matters
on the advancement of the children”, “organising conferences for community members”
and undertaking “house to house preaching”(as a Principal of a rural Community school for
the 7 to 16 year olds put it).
This closer look at Table 4.17 revealed also that Mali and Gambia were the two countries
with the largest proportions of their Madrassas offering their Sports facilities to their local
communities; and that the Gambian “schools” outperformed by far their counterparts in the
other three countries with their Awareness Raising campaigns about Gender Equity.
Indeed, the finding that only small proportions of “schools” in Sénégal (5%; n=41) and in
Niger (8%; N=49) undertake such campaigns is puzzling, in view of the remarkable
increase in the Gender Ratio for student enrolment in the Year 2005/06 in these two
countries (see Section 4.1.2.1).
On the issue of how the targeted institutions monitored their relationships with their local
communities, there was evidence of a clear preference across the four countries for
informal, individual meetings with stakeholders (rather than for surveys of the local
Communities’ views), with the Madrassas in Niger and in Gambia displaying the largest
proportions of institutions favouring this particular strategy: (60% in Niger and 74% in
Gambia). A few institutions used both methods and indeed even a third one, namely, the
feedback from their former students.
Madrassas (N=15)
Provision (n=50) Provision (n=15)
(n=24) (n=26) (n=4) (n=11)
Counselling Services 21 26 47 Counselling Services 1 1 2
Poverty Alleviation Poverty Alleviation
21 17 38 1 1 2
Programmes Programmes
Awareness raising Awareness raising
campaigns about gender 22 22 44 campaigns about gender 1 1 2
equity equity
ICT services 9 9 18 ICT services 0 1 1
Sports facilities 3 8 11 Sports facilities 0 1 1
Teachers’ living Teachers’ living
4 6 10 0 2 2
accommodation accommodation
“Schools” Location Total “Schools” Location Total
Rural Urban (n=19)
Rural Urban (n=31)
Provision (n=9) (n=10)
Provision (n=14) (n=17)
(N=34)
QSCs (N=23)
equity equity
ICT services 2 0 2 ICT services 3 1 4
Sports facilities 1 0 1 Sports facilities 1 0 1
Teachers’ living Teachers’ living
1 0 1 1 0 1
accommodation accommodation
Mali Senegal
“Schools” Location Total “Schools” Location Total
Rural Urban Rural Urban
Madrassas (N =12)
Madrassas (N =28)
QSCs
equity equity
ICT services 0 0 0 ICT services 0 0 0
Sports facilities 0 0 0 Sports facilities 0 0 0
Teachers’ living Teachers’ living
1 1 2 0 0 0
accommodation accommodation
In Niger nine supervisors and eighty seven Headteachers and teachers were interviewed
whereas the Senegalese research team interviewed 18 Headteachers, and in The Gambia
sixteen teachers and fourteen managers participated in the interviews. The issues discussed
are dealt with below.
In The Gambia and in Niger, interviewees from Madrassas say that the main educational
aim of the “Schools” is to build an effective citizenship whereas those from the QSCs see
it as teaching the Holy Koran in order to have learners memorize all the verses. It is
worth mentioning that in Niger, a few schools train their students to read fluently the
Holy text without memorizing it. However, they both share the same view about the
policy goals of promoting Islamic Education and facilitating access to literacy. In
Senegal, the curriculum aims at teaching the Arabic and French languages simultaneously
with literacy in the local language. Recently, some schools developed a skills component
in their curriculum which allows a few leavers to start their professional practices.
The Madrassas and QSCs sampled in The Gambia, except one, do not offer vocational
training essentially because of lack of resources. In fact, interviewees indicated that their
schools are interested in introducing vocational training and technical education in their
curriculum but their funding does not allow them to acquire the necessary tools,
equipment and qualified teachers. This is an emerging trend in Senegal where the only
choice given to the leavers of QSCs used to be the teaching of the Koran.
Gambian Islamic education managers organize annual public reading of the Holy Koran
and conferences to promote their programs, yet a few of them do it through personal
contacts. The sample is divided with regard to recruitment approach with one half
advocating the market driven approach and the other half believing that the Islamic
Education Authority has a duty to provide strong direction if not a national curriculum.
In Senegal, annual gatherings at the closure of classes are used as means of identifying
good students finishing their cycle who can be recruited as teachers. The annual Koran
recitation contests serve also as amechanism of public relations for the schools, as parents
and potential sponsors are usually invited. One school organizes written evaluations per
semester to document the performance of the students. The study documented the
existence of archives and yearbooks, as well as a repetition rate of 7 to 14%. Eighty per
cent of the students complete their cycle.
The Senegalese study indicates that private sponsors and non-governmental organizations
provide more than 10% of the running budget of some schools. The remaining moneys
are collected through fee payment either by the students themselves — income generated
from begging or from parents. A small minority of schools rear poultry to make money.
There are day schools as well as boarding schools.
The development of opportunities for the students depends a lot on the availability of
funding, a condition missing in most Madrassas and QSCs as indicated by the few figures
about the budget given by the interviewees. The Senegalese team mentioned assistance
from a very small number of municipalities.
Senegalese schools have rules and a personnel motivated by religious faith. Despite the
irregularity of pay, the personnel show up at the schools even on holidays, as most of
them expect their reward from God.
4.3.1. Gambia
The Gambia team selected the two cases based on the contrast in their institutional
policies, processes and practices as observed during data collection. Case Study No1 dealt
with Saad Bin Musaid Quranic Memorization Centre established on the18th March 1994
by Oustas Amadou Saho. The stated aims are to (i) help pupils strengthen their religious
faith through the memorization of the verses of the Holy Koran, (ii) instil discipline in the
pupils and (iii) engage learners in the observance of The Prophet’s practices and
traditions. The second field of the case studies is the Tallinding Islamic Institute
established in 1963 as part of the Gambian Islamic Union. The initiator, Alhaji
Mahammedan Lamin Ceesay, was educator and a benevolent Islamic Scholar from Kiang
Tunkular in Lower River Region (LRR). The institute houses the Headquarters of the
Gambian Islamic Union. Its main objectives are to:
(a) Spread Islamic Education in order to strengthen the Islamic faith.
(b) Improve literacy levels in the country.
4.3.2. Mali
Two Case Studies were conducted: one of a bilingual school (Madrassa) and one of a
Quranic school, both in Touba.
The Madrassa Dar al Koran wal Hadith (House of Koran and Hadith) is a private Islamic
school created in 1959 by Mohamed Abdoulkadir Doucouré and managed by a council of
12 persons all members of the Dar al Koran wal Hadith association. The teaching
personnel are comprised of 92 men and women recruited by tests, written and oral. The
administrative staff is made of 22 persons posted in compliance with official rules
regarding private schools. The school has three levels, that is, foundation Basic
Education with 1,581 students, 492 of whom are girls; Basic Secondary Education with
570 students (including 51 girls), and General Secondary Education with 290 students —
all boys. The infrastructure includes 61 classrooms built with concrete, housing for
teachers, dormitories for the students, a library, a health centre, a mosque, meeting rooms,
computer rooms, and a radio station.
In the year 2006/07, 315 students sat for the examination at the end of the 6th year and
201 passed it while 92 sat for the examination at the end of the 9th year, and 73 passed it.
The school takes part in all cultural and sportive activities organized by the services of the
Department of State for Education. School fees range from 1,250F CFA for Basic
Education and for Koran Memorization Centres to 1,500 F CFA for the General
Secondary Education.
In addition to the teaching activities, the school runs an orphanage which hosts 591
children and builds mosques and fountains in needy villages. These programs are
sponsored by the Kuwait Zakhat foundation.
The second case study is about the Laye Mody Koran School. The student population is
310 including 78 girls, some are day students and others live in the school facilities. The
current director is Mouhamed Tawil. There are four learning sessions per day: these are
at dawn, early in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night. The program of study is
delivered in nine years which are divided between the Holy Koran and Islamic studies.
4.3.3. Niger
The first case study is about a private bilingual school located in a peripheral
neighbourhood of Niamey. Created in 1994 by Mr Sidibé, Tarbiatou al Islam is directed
by a 45 years old man who trained as teacher. The School Management Committee is
comprised of 16 persons including 6 women.
The classrooms are made of clay for lack of money to build them with concrete. This
means that the school does not offer the required learning conditions for its 168 students
(including 56 girls) who are divided in three multilevel and mixed sex classrooms. Eight
teachers – four francophone and four arabophone — are in charge of the students. The
Headteacher has more than 15 years of teaching experience and is assisted by 4 support
personnel. The school fees, of 2,000F CFA per month, do not cover the running charges.
The curriculum is similar to the official one. For the school year 2006/07, 12 students sat
the end of cycle examination and only four passed it. Despite the low school fees,
enrolment is small but given the socio-economic characteristics of the population
(farmers, workers in the informal sector and jobless people), the figures are
understandable. Teachers participate in continuing education programs organized by the
Department of State for Education or by NGOs.
The second case study is about the Bouko Quranic School in Diagoga. Established 90
years ago by Cheik Abdourahamane Kalilou, Bouko Quranic School has currently 142
students, (of who 41 are girls). Their age vary from 6 to 27 years, all from farming
families. Running charges are provided by local sponsors. Registration is free and
individual.
4.3.4 Sénégal
The NDoulo Koran School, in the Diourbel area in Senegal, is a classical QSC aimed at
teaching the Holy Koran and Islamic traditions to a student population made up of people
aged from 3 to 25 years. With assistance from UNICEF, the Senegalese government
introduced French, Wolof and vocational training in order to diversify Basic Education
offerings. Parents choose to register their children in such schools
Mr Tandang has the sole person responsible for the running of the school even if he
associates some parents and teachers in decision making. The management is informal as
there are no archives nor any other document established for the sake of collecting
information on the students. The government does not give any financial assistance to the
promoter. Some women from the community provide daily food to a few learners as a
means of reducing begging and allowing them to have more time for learning. The
working hours are 6 to 9 in the morning for the younger students learning the Holy
Koran, from 10 to 12 for the senior learners engaged in Islamic studies, and from 3 pm
until sun set. During the rainy season, the daily schedule changes to fit with productive
activities.
The timetable is indicative as each student attends school at his or her convenience and
the teachers do not have a set time for each activity: they follow the rhythm of arrival of
the learners. Consequently, individual progress varies from one person to another.
The second Senegalese case study concerned a modern QSC in Pikine, a suburb of Dakar.
This school had been selected because of the profile of its manager the implementation of
innovative content, its suburban localization and the nature of the changes it has gone
through.
The school comprises a Quranic school and a Bilingual — French and Arabic — school.
The latter prepares students to move from Non-Formal to formal education. The Pikine
QSC together with the bilingual school is one of the pilot schools experimenting
trilingual teaching. Registration is voluntary from 3 to 30 years of age. The State does
not assist, financially speaking; the running budget — more or less 300,000F CFA — is
mobilized through fee payment and donations from sponsors within the network.
CHAPTER V:
DISCUSSION
The discussion in this chapter draws on the information obtained from the data collected during
the Baseline Survey, and also from the literature review and from the researchers’ knowledge of
the context.
As already explained, the Baseline Survey was limited in investigating scope and
consequently there was no question of going over well-trodden ground in Education (that
is, on such issues as experiential learning, teaching style and Pre-service teacher-training).
As already explained too (see Chapter II), the whole group of Quranic Schooling Centres
(including the Madrassas) was conceptualised as together constituting the sector of Basic
Education and Non-Formal Education within the Islamic Education system.
Turning to the quantitative survey findings then, and starting with the issue of access to the
“schools”, the high proportion (63%; n=184) of Private “schools” in the achieved sample of
“schools” (see Table 4.1) raises questions but it is not known if this proportion reflects the
balance, nation-wide, between Private “schools”, Community “schools” and Government
“schools”, and it was not the intention in this study to make statistical generalisations from
the sample of “schools”. What can be said is that, such as it is, the evidence is that,
particularly in Mali and Senegal, the Private “schools” (and not the Community “schools”,
or the Government “schools, or the “schools” sponsored by other national or international
bodies) that are, on the whole, carrying forward the quantitative expansion in the sector —
although account must be taken of the respective contributions, in Sénégal, of national
bodies like the “Mouride” Brotherhood and of the pioneering work undertaken jointly by
the Sénégalese Government and UNICEF in connection with a novel type of Daaras (see
Sénégal’s Country Report).
Of course, the availability of private education locally means that children’s parents/
guardians (and mature students) are able to purchase from competing educational offerings
in accordance with their means, and to exercise the right to withdraw their children (or
themselves, as mature students) from “school” as they wish. However, there is a question
about the quality of the educational provision because, from the evidence available, the
Private “schools” are subject to control by the appropriate Education authorities to only a
limited extent (see Table 4.5A). The question is particularly germane to the “schools”
which seem to be growing out of all proportion in size (see Section 4.1.2). Arguably, with
the market style mechanism in place and a publicly maintained system of control which is
probably under-resourced and is therefore unable to cope effectively with the present
expansion, the quality of education provided in the Private “schools” may be under threat.
But reconciling increasing access to “schools” with ensuring programme quality is not so
clear-cut, specially as “there may not be a common understanding of the term quality of
education” (Pigozzi, 2003), and that “as in the industrialised world, the path of quality
improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa has often been rocky and strewn with obstacles”
(Verspoor, 2003). However, there is a growing consensus that an education which,
amongst other things, imparts universal values is one of quality, and the present study
looked into the extent to which these aspects of quality underpinned the school curriculum
and the school management in the sector.
Understandably, the surveyed “schools” were pursuing the traditional values of Islam.
However, the relatively high proportion of the total amount of time allocated weekly for
Islamic studies and for the study of the Arabic language (see Tables 4.5A and B) (and in
Gambia contrasting very much with the Government’s balanced curriculum) raises
questions about such a skewed distribution of the time allocation for the various subject
Assuming then that it is the values of Islam that inform the vision of education which the
“schools” have, there can be some tension between these values and those of the State.
However, (as in Gambia), such tension can be lessened through a Memorandum of
Understanding (between the local Islamic Education Authority and the Ministry of
Education) — though apparently with considerable latitude given to the “schools” with
regard to the curriculum, judging from what obtains in Gambia (see Chapter IV).
It was also assumed that values affect the actions, procedures, structures and
accountability framework which give to educational institutions their character —— not
only as regards the curriculum but also their governance. It did not seem appropriate to
look into the accountability of the Managers (both contractual and professional) as that
would require enquiring into the mission for which the “schools” were established and
into the nature and distribution of authority within the sector. The study simply
concentrated on a small set of values which most educationists might be expected to
espouse and which seem embedded in CONFEMEN’s (2006) priorities for the
management of State schools — granted that faith schools would be expected to promote
their own set of values, in addition. So, with regard to the management aspects of the
“schools”, the focus of the study was on the value placed on (a) Community Participation
in education, (b) School Effectiveness, and (c) Continuing Professional Development.
Community Participation
School Effectiveness
Taking internal efficiency first, the ever-present factor of gender disparity in both the
enrolment and achievement of girls was not altogether surprising; and although there were
encouraging signs of progress towards parity (and even beyond) in enrolment as measured
by the Gender Ratio (particularly in Niger and Sénégal), the relatively higher drop-out
rate among teenage girls than among boys remains a cause for concern, particularly as
Awareness raising campaigns about gender equity are minimal (see Table 4.17).
Actually, the drop-out rate among teenagers, in general, is also a cause for concern as the
transition from Lower Basic/ Primary Schools to Upper Basic/ Junior Secondary Schools
may be bewildering for some because of the constantly changing set of teachers and
subjects in their new schools (let alone the choice of subjects); and, for rural teenagers, in
particular, because of the move from a small village school to a large secondary school in
town. Regrettably, there was no time in the present study to look at the official
arrangements for this said transition and at the key information which is available about
the “schools” and on which communities may rely. But the point being emphasised here
is three-fold: firstly, the conspicuous growth in enrolments registered in recent years in
the “schools” does not necessarily imply that all the enrolled students will successfully
The indications then are that the “internal efficiency” of the “schools” is in the hands of
the “school” Managers and their teaching staff to a large extent, but what about the other
element of school effectiveness, that is, the “external efficiency” of the “schools”, as
indicated by school leavers’ destinations and by employment/ self-employment for Out-
of-School Youth? The evidence is very thin in this point because of the dearth of
statistical information about students’ destinations. Nevertheless, this element of school
effectiveness opens up again the issue of how much emphasis should the “schools” put on
the Technical/ Business subject areas in the curriculum, the point being that if these are
not valued, and if (as seems likely, see Section 4.1.5.1), local employers are not
represented on schools’ Governing Councils, it does not make sense presumably, to put in
place a tracer system to follow students’ destinations in industry, commerce and the
public services — and it seems that this is what may have happened so far in many of the
“schools” in the sector (see Section 4.1.4.2). Yet, the importance of tracer studies, such as
that of Bittaye and Cummings (1996) in Gambia and that of Moussa and Galy (2003) in
Niger, is undeniable in the context of human capital development and for the evaluation
of programmes of study; and consequently, “external efficiency” too is to a large extent
the responsibility of the “school” managers and their teaching staff.
Curiously then, the study paints a picture of the “schools” in the francophone countries
(except in Niger’s Madrassas) operating under the leadership of mostly inadequately
qualified and relatively inexperienced Managers who have under their authority mostly
professionally qualified full-time teachers (see Tables 4.14 and 4.15) — the very
converse of the delivery system for the sector in the anglophone country of Gambia
where the Management of most “schools” is in competent hands but not the teaching!
It was probably inevitable that the “school” Managers would be placed under the
spotlight in this study — given the application of market mechanisms to student
recruitment, coupled with the implementation of an expansionist strategy, and the wide
range of expertise that is required of Managers to enable them to manage efficiently and
Generally, the teaching staffs lack training to deal with their regular tasks, not to mention
the introduction of vocational skills. More funding and commitment on the part of the
Central Governments and donor agencies are needed in order to develop vocational and
skills development programs. This is more relevant for QSCs, which operate on a non-
formal basis with very little support and control, if they are expected to contribute to the
attainment of the Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals. All
QSCs and a significant number of Madrassas do not have proper records to keep up-to-date
information about their past and present students. It appears also that teachers do not
prepare their lessons — a lack of organization that affects the quality of learning, and
explains their unwillingness to innovate, particularly in QSCs. In reality, they are not
trained for the job so that they reproduce their own experiences.
The teaching of the Koran is assured by local people, most of them men, even if women are
making a remarkable entry in urban areas. In rural settings, the weight of tradition confines
Though governments are not doing much to support QSCs, there are here and there several
good initiatives sponsored by NGOs with the assistance of international organizations. The
experiments open new perspectives to the numerous children and adults who choose
Quranic schools for their education because they are either more accessible or the cheapest.
The traditional Quranic schools are aimed at teaching the holy text and at producing people
capable of good Islamic practice while Madrassas pursue the development of responsible
citizenship.
The curricula give very little place to Skills acquisition, a weakness that should call the
attention of educational managers. If basic education is to contribute to poverty alleviation
at the micro level and to the satisfaction of community competency needs, the introduction
of technical and vocational components becomes a must. Unfortunately, the country studies
suggest that both QSCs and Madrassas are not sensitive to community needs. For example,
51% to 65% of the interviewees in Niger said that vocational training is not part of their
goals. Consequently, the curriculum is not pertinent. The few respondents who assess it as
adequate said so with regard to its relevance to social integration.
Along with the introduction of new alternatives, the interviews revealed also that some
Quranic schools insist more on the development of literacy skills than on the memorization
of the Koran. This change is worth monitoring.
CHAPTER VI:
CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Conclusion
Islamic education in the four targeted countries is mainly provided within educational
institutions that were introduced in sub-Saharan Africa early in the post hegira era, as
indicated by several historical sources (Cuoq, 1984; Hiskett, 1984; Meunier, 1994). .These
institutions were individual initiatives motivated by the quest of divine reward. The
Shortly before the advent of this category of Islamic education facilities, the State had
developed Bilingual schools within the formal education scheme. The curriculum of the
latter includes Islamic education — the teaching of the Koran and of Islamic studies — in
addition to that of regular formal schools. Their stated agenda was to lessen parents’
resistance to the Western type of schooling but that resistance became stronger because of
the popular support they had within the communities.
The new offerings have added non-religious content in the curriculum — biology,
mathematics, history and vocational training — in response to the needs of the learners.
However, there is considerable room for improvement in the curriculum, in the
management and in the infrastructure for the institutions. With pedagogical training,
strategic planning and public support, the modernized Islamic educational institutions could
open more opportunities for marginalized communities to acquire Basic Education.
Interventions in pedagogical training, strategic planning, school management and the
infrastructure should deal with the lack of qualified teachers and managers as well as with
the lack of material and financial resources.
6.2 Recommendations
It is recommended that UNESCO intervenes in the sector in each of the four countries
through:
■ Improving the learning conditions in the sector (including improving the
infrastructure)
■ Curriculum development for the sector
■ Initial Teacher-training and Continuous Professional Development
■ Educational leadership training for the “school” managers
■ The promotion of innovative initiatives (including existing ones)
■ The democratization of Knowledge (through the development of AJAMI)
No significance is ascribed to the order in which the recommendations appear in the above
list. Some of the recommendations were elaborated through Concept Papers as
explained in section 6.3 below.
Importantly, the minutes of the meeting were circulated to all concerned and the research
team received no adverse comments about this approach. Later, at another cross-national
meeting, the research team focused on determining its recommended areas for pilot
interventions, country by country. The minutes of the meeting were again circulated to all
concerned. And again the research team received no adverse comments about its approach.
Subsequently, five Concept Papers were finalised and are presented below in sections
6.3.1 to 6.3.5.
Underlying this set of Concept Papers was the realisation that at the heart of UNESCO’s
dual requirement was the expectation that the research findings might lead to pilot
interventions that might in turn contribute to “improvements” in the provision of education
in this sector of the Islamic Education system. There was the realisation too that the
process of developing a structure for such essential systemic “improvements” (as against
tinkering with the system) in the context of the Private faith “schools” (within the system)
was likely to be evolutionary, given that the system was undergirded by an entrenched
religious belief system, and by a particular ideological approach to teaching- learning.
Also, with respect to the design and implementation of such a structural reform of the
sector, a “critical dialogue” had to be established between all involved parties (see Buchert,
1998); and from that perspective what was needed at each “school” was a democratic
community of parents, local community members, the business community and the
“school” staff. The collaboration of these various stakeholders in running “schools” was
seen as crucial for the development of a sense of ownership among the stakeholders (for
any systemic “improvements” that might be introduced in the “schools”).
To take the theme of “Girls and Women”, for example, it did not emerge as a strong
candidate for intervention in this study, although there was some evidence of continuing
gender disparities (see for example Table 4.9, about the reported drop-out rates at “school”)
— perhaps because gender issues in education in developing countries, as well as the
recommended policies and strategies for promoting gender equity in education are fairly
well documented (see, for example, Brock and Cammish, 1997 a and b; Duret and Bernard,
2004). However, taking the Concept Paper about Leadership Training for “school”
“Managers” (in Section 6.3.2), as an example of a proposal for intervention and given that
the expectation is that, as an outcome of such an intervention, gender policies would be
formulated and put into action in “schools”, it is conceivable that when developed into a
full-blown proposal for a specific intervention by UNESCO (or indeed by other funding
agencies), an appropriate, costed, strategic plan for implementing the policies would be
included in the full-blown proposal.
Thus, a strategic plan (prepared by, say, the Islamic Education Authorities nationally)
might include putting into operation policies for :
(a) increasing, respectively, the proportions of::
(i) women in the memberships of “school” Governing Councils
(ii) female “school” “Managers” nationally
(iii) female teachers among the “school” teaching staff
(iv) sponsored female “school” “Managers” and teachers on Continuing
Professional Development courses
(v) girls and women in student enrolment and retention on “school” programmes
(b) (i) conducting awareness raising programmes nationally for “school” staff (about
gender equity and gender stereotyping in “schools”)
(ii) supporting similar programmes for parents, community leaders and business
communities, locally
(c) finding the means of providing financial aid, as appropriate, to “school” girls at
Secondary School level
(d) launching an appropriate remedial programme of further education for female
Senior Secondary School leavers who do not meet fully all the entry requirements
for initial teacher-training programmes.
The education policies of the participating countries consider Quranic schooling as a non-
formal education modality. However, for lack of sufficient pedagogical work, this status
is not fully recognized by the Departments of Education which give all the educational
moneys to formal schools, thus behaving as if they are departments of schooling and
Malam Moussa and Galy (2006) have questioned this. On the other hand, thousands of
citizens, young and adults attend this institution to acquire education, but the actual
curriculum does not cover all their needs.
Data collected during this study indicate that the actors are ready to improve their offers
as they are fully aware of their limits. In fact, this study indicated that skills development
is missing in the programs offered and the contents are different from one school to
another. Developing a curriculum to reinforce the existing content and provide modern
knowledge and know-how is undoubtedly a salvation activity for the many learners
whose right to basic education is not entirely fulfilled because of curricular weaknesses.
The aim of this intervention is to develop a curriculum for all the actors of Islamic
education. More specifically, it is expected (i) to fill the gaps observed in the current
educational programs of Quranic schools, (ii) modernize the offerings both in terms of
pedagogical approaches and practices, (iii) build the foundations of a quality control
mechanism and (iv) provide the learners with the minimum knowledge, know-how and
social skills required for Basic Education.
Activities
Several studies have been realized and pilot activities developed here and there. The first
task to undertake in this intervention is to analyse them so as to have a complete
repertoire of initiatives from which good practices can be identified for diffusion. The
derived synthesis will then be shared with competent national authorities and potential
implementers for enrichment before the set up of technical teams that will finalize the
curriculum.
Implementation strategies
This paper proceeds from the premise that the management of the sector (the Madrassas
and other Quranic Schooling Centres) is of considerable importance, if the teaching force
is to meet appropriate teaching standards. This issue is particularly pertinent at present
because, in recent years, the “schools” have increased significantly their intake and there
is therefore a question about the extent to which they are able to accommodate the
increase in the number of entrants without detriment to the quality of their programme
offerings.
Another point to consider is that the recent emphasis on some ideas about Education
Management world-wide (such as those of accountability, transparency, community
participation and Quality Assurance) has influenced a number of developments in the
management of State schools, and the question is whether the Islamic “schools” are
adequately informed and resourced to adopt such ideas successfully. In this context the
concern is with such matters as:
(a) the governance and internal organisation structure of the “schools”
(b) the Systems in place e.g. the Planning System (including the Management
Information System and the Tracer System), the Quality Control and Assurance
System, and the Funding System (including the Cost-recovery System)
(c) the Continuing Professional Development of the Managers and Teachers
(d) the balance between the management control exercised on the “schools” (by
National Ministries of Education and/or by the Islamic Education Authorities) and
the academic freedom of the “schools”. (This balance is important because, on the
one hand, Government and/or the Islamic Education authorities may wish to
exercise control on, for example, student numbers, teachers’ conditions of service,
and a particular ideological approach to teaching-learning. On the other hand, the
“schools” may be keen on safeguarding their academic freedom to manage their
own affairs and to determine their own development plans).
In broad terms then, the aim is to assist the development of an appropriate framework for
the effective management of the “schools”, based on an identification of “good practice”.
Activities
The diagram below shows the envisaged activities and their sequence. Underpinning the
proposed activities is the assumption that although leadership at every level of
management in education inevitably depends on the personality of the individual leader, it
can be learned and modified to suit particular environments. Another underlying
assumption is that after the National Validation Workshop and prior to an intervention
in a “school” there must be a dialogue among stakeholders in education locally. Hence,
each participating “school” authority needs to set up a Local Facilitation Team
composed of the “school” Head, and of representatives of: the “school” teaching staff, the
other local school teachers, the local Islamic Education Authority, the local State
Education Authority, the Parents of the school pupils, the Business Community, the
Social institutions, and the other Community Leaders. Such direct community
participation will develop a sense of ownership among the stakeholders and will enhance
the likelihood that the “school” and the community that it serves will come to terms with
the implications of the intervention for “school” management.
Organise Validation
Workshops and
disseminate the Set up a National
Baseline Survey Task Force in
findings country each country.
wide. Set up a Local Facilitation Team
for each participating “school”.
The National Task Force would be set up and resourced in consultation with the
appropriate National Islamic Education Authorities and the Ministry of Education in each
country. Its purpose will be to oversee the project from inception to the end. Importantly,
it will develop, as appropriate, a comprehensive portfolio of “good practice” with regard
to the various aspects of school management that the National Task Force identifies as
important in the context of the sector in each country.
Expected outcomes.
Some of the expected outcomes over a period of some five years or so are: an increased
participation of the local communities in policy formulation for the “schools” (through
their representation on “school” governing bodies), more resources mobilised for the
Continuing Professional Development of Managers and teachers, a gender policy
formulated and put into action, appropriate Systems in place for Education Management
Information and for Quality Assurance, an improved infrastructure, and an increased level
of financial support by national and international donors and other funding agencies..
Implementation Strategy
The proposed strategy is much the same as that indicated in the Concept Paper with
regard to the Curriculum (see section 6.3.1 above). Thus, the expectation is that
UNESCO and ERNWACA will (i) establish a strategic partnership with Islamic
international organizations such as ISESCO and the Islamic Development Bank, and (ii)
organise an International Seminar aimed at sharing the results of the present study. The
Islamic Development Bank may provide funding through its Bilingual education project
currently being implemented in some of the concerned countries.
Rationale
The flexibility of the Non-Formal framework for Basic Education (in the Madrassas and the
other Quranic Schooling Centres) is convenient and appropriate for the less affluent who
are forced to combine education with the search for the basic means of survival; and the
Baseline Survey has enlightened us to some of the hidden potential of the Islamic schools
for such sections of the population. Also, a review of the on-going curriculum has revealed
some constraints but also vital strategies and plans of action that would have to be in place
if the objective of incorporating secular subjects and livelihood skills in Islamic schools is
to be achieved; and the desire of Islamic schools to have vocational subjects as additional to
their traditional curriculum. (in the Memorandum of understanding between the Department
of State for Education and the General Secretariat for Arabic/Islamic Education in 2005.)
Aim
The aim is to widen the scope of Islamic/Arabic education and include technical and
vocational skills training.
The Specific objectives are:
(a) To investigate why vocational subjects are not offered in most Madrassas and
other Quranic Schooling centres.
(b) To investigate the most appropriate and cost-effective way of providing vocational
subjects as a pilot scheme in some “schools”.
(c) To investigate a cost-effective way of delivering the programme of study in a pilot
manner having in mind the lack of qualified teachers and of resources for Technical
/Business Subject areas
(d) To study the pilot results and the costs and propose a comprehensive introduction
of the scheme nationally.
Activities
(a) Based on the information gained from the Baseline Survey, research instruments
would be developed to carry out in each of the six geographical regions of the
country a mapping exercise of Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres
which are at close proximity to formal schools which offer vocational subjects and
which could share their facilities with isolated Madrassas.
(b) The availability of qualified vocational teachers in the formal, private and public
vocational schools would be determined.
Implementation Strategies
The necessary Resources could be provided by, for example, Central Government, Donor
agencies, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and The World
Bank and the project would be implemented through UNESCO and ERNWACA.
Justification
The delivery of programmes at Madrassas and Quranic Schooling Centres (the “Schools”)
requires teaching staff that are professionally trained and can pass on their up-to-date
knowledge of their subject specialisms. This study has revealed that there were 877
teachers in all the “schools” surveyed, of whom 416 Male and 71 Female teachers (for both
full and part-time) were unqualified representing, about 56% of the total number of teachers
surveyed. Most of the schools surveyed indicated that they had difficulties in recruiting
professionally qualified teachers. Staff development is a key element in all the “Schools”,
but they have difficulty in acquiring funds or scholarships to train their staff.
Aims
In broad terms, the aim of this project is to train teachers for professional development and
subject specialism against the background of a growing demand for qualified teachers in the
Madrassas and QSC’s.
Specific objectives
The specific objectives will be to:
(a) Identify Teachers who need to be trained for a professional qualification and at what
level
(b) Identify those that need up-grading in their subject areas.
(c) Provide in-service training for unqualified teachers in the field during the long
school holidays (July to September each year).
Activities
Specialized training for those teachers requiring a Certificate level professional
qualification could be organised during the long vacations (from July to September) in two
Implementation Strategy
Resources might be provided by Central government, donors and international funding
agencies and the project would be implemented through UNESCO and ERNWACA.
Action Plan
The project would be of five – years duration
Strategy Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
150 new 150 to
Unqualified teachers intakes complete
150 new 150 to
to be trained
intakes. complete
for a period of 2 150 new 150 to
intakes complete
years. 150 new 150 to
intakes complete
Scholarships for
20 new 20 new 20 new 20 new 20 new
up-grading in subject intakes intakes intakes intakes intakes
areas for 1 year
By the end of the project 600 teachers would have been trained for a profession
qualification at Certificate level and 100 teachers would have been up-graded in their
various subject areas.
General Objectives
The aim is to improve the educational profile of Madrassa and Daara school leavers,
respectively, through two experimental pilot projects (one in a reformed Madrassa and
one in a Daara) with the view of achieving their better integration into social life and into
the labour market or into further formal or non-formal education.
Implementation
Each project will be of three years’ duration (2008 -2010). The detailed Action Plan is
available.
Questionnaire For
Managers/ Headteachers/ Principals/ Directors of Madrassas or
other Quranic Schooling Centres /Settings
(pages 87 to 100)
APPENDIX 2
INTRODUCTION
This questionnaire has been developed as part of a UNESCO study of the modalities of interventions
in Basic Education and in Non-Formal Education within marginalised populations, with special
reference to the case of Madrassas and other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCs) and Settings.
For convenience sake the word “school” is used in this questionnaire to refer to Madrassas and other
Quranic Schooling Centres and Settings. Also, the word “students” here refers to all learners whether
they are young learners or adult learners.
The aim of this study is to find out how such “schools” provide Basic Education and/or Non-Formal
Education (including livelihood skills and vocational training for meeting local needs) and to promote
the observed good practices.
To begin with, please circle the letter in the appropriate box for the designation of this “school”
and then go to Section 1
Official Designation of the “School” Code
A Madrassa M
A Quranic Schooling Centre or Setting, other than a Madrassa Q
(Please specify the official designation here:
………………………………………………………………………….)
Section 1. YOUR PERSONAL BACKGROUND
1.1 Please circle the numbers in the appropriate shaded boxes below:-
Gender Age Nationality
Less than 30 to 45 Over 45 Non-
Male Female Gambian
30 yrs old yrs old yrs old Gambian
1 2 1 2 3 1 2
1.2. Your Position at the “school”.
Please circle the numbers in the appropriate shaded boxes below:-
The The The The Other (please specify)
Full-time Part-time
Manager Headteacher Principal Director …………………….
1 2 3 4 5 2 1
1.3. Your Professional Qualifications
(A) Your highest professional qualification in Education as a subject area
Please circle the number in the appropriate shaded box below:
Teacher’s Higher /Advanced Bachelor’s Master’s Doctorate
Not
Certificate in Certificate or Diploma in degree in degree in in
Applicable
Education Education Education Education Education
1 2 3 4 5 0
[Note: This Section is about the “school” of which you are the Manager /Headteacher /Principal
/Director]
2.1 Name of the “School” …………………..……………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………….…..
……………………………………………………………………
2.2 Location of the “School”.
(A) The Address of the “school”
Village Town/City/District Region/Division
……………………….. ……………………….. ………………………..
Year 2004/05
Year2005/06
(B) Complete the table below by putting in each shaded box the number of registered
educational institutions that exist at present for the following age groups within the
catchment area for this “school” (excluding this “school”).
No. of No. of Other No. of Other No. of State/ Central
Age Group Madrassas QSCs/Settings Private schools Government schools
3 – 6 yr olds
7 – 12 yr olds
13 – 16 yr olds
17 – 19 yr olds
Other (Please specify)
(C) Below is a list of reasons that may be given by parents/ guardians for sending their
children to “schools” such as this one. Focusing on your “school”, give each reason a
code using the coding table below.
Some possible reasons given by Parents/Guardians for sending their
CODE
children to this “school”
The high quality of teaching
The low level of “school” fees
The short distance of the “school” from home
The religious content of the programme
The vocational training given
The life skills in the programme
The opportunity to learn the official language of the country
Others (Please specify)
(B) The no. of Students who passed the end-of-year examination for their final year in
2005 and in 2006, respectively
Age Group Grade Year School Year 2004/05 School Year 2005/06
4.1 (A) Is teaching-learning at the “school” organised along the lines indicated in the following diagram?
7 to 12 year olds 13 to 16 year olds 17 to 19 year olds Not specified by age
The organisation of the 3 to 6 year olds in the Lower Basic/ in the Upper Basic/ in the Senior and/or level
student groups Primary School or Junior Secondary School or Secondary School or
equivalent setting equivalent setting equivalent setting
Yes No N/A Yes No N/A Yes No N/A Yes No N/A Yes No N/A
Along Mono-grade lines
1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
(single grade)
Along Multi-grade lines
1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
(mixed grades)
Along Multi-class lines * 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
Along Mixed age lines 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
Along Double-shift
1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
schooling lines
Other (please specify) 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 0
[Key: NA = Not Applicable
* the term “multi-class” means “more than one class sharing a classroom” because of lack of space during the same teaching period]
(B) What is the language predominantly used as the medium of instruction/ communication for the student groups indicated in this table?
Student Groups
7 to 12 year olds 13 to 16 year olds in 17 to 19 year olds in Not
3 to 6 Upper Basic/ Junior Secondary Senior Secondary School or
year in Lower Basic/ Primary School or equivalent setting
School or equivalent setting equivalent setting specified
Language Predominantly olds Year /Grade Year /Grade Year /Grade by age and
st nd rd th th th th th th th
Used 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11th 12th /or level
The official language of the
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
country
The predominant language of
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
the local area
Arabic 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Other (Please specify) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
(C) How many hours of formal teaching/learning are time-tabled, per week, for the study of the subjects listed below?
No. of teaching/learning hours allocated per week, per subject, at this “school” for each Year/Grade
7 to 12 year olds in 13 to 16 year olds in 17 to 19 year olds in Not
Lower Basic/ Primary School Upper Basic/ Junior Secondary School Senior Secondary School or
“SCHOOL” SUBJECTS or equivalent setting or equivalent setting equivalent setting specified
Year /Grade Year /Grade Year /Grade by age and
st nd
1 2 3rd 4th 5 th
6 th
7 th
8th 9th 10 th
11th 12th /or level
The official language of the
country
The predominant language of the
area
Another language other than
Arabic
Mathematics
Social & Environmental Studies
Science & Health
Agriculture
Rational Sciences (e.g. Logic,
philosophy)
Islamic Studies
Woodwork
Metalwork
Home Economics
Technical Drawing
Arts & Crafts
Physical Education
Music (e.g. through singing)
Arabic
With regard to the preparation that this “school’s” students need for later life and/or for work, indicate below how widely the following skills and related
knowledge are covered in the programmes that this “school” offers for each age group. (Please circle the numbers in the appropriate boxes below)
THE SKILLS AND The extent to which the skills are covered in the programmes
RELATED KNOWLEDGE for 3 to 6 year olds for 7 to 12 year olds for 13 to 16 year olds for 17 to 19 year olds Not specified by age
or level
Fairly Not at Fairly Not at Fairly Not at Fairly Fairly Not
1. Life Skills Education Widely Widely Widely Widely Not at all Widely
widely all widely all widely all widely widely at all
(c) Marketing 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
Not
Student Groups Yes No Applicable
Upper Basic/ Junior Secondary School Groups 1 2 0
Out-of-school Youth Groups 1 2 0
Non-Formal Adult Education Groups 1 2 0
Women’s Groups 1 2 0
If Yes: Please indicate in the table below the subject area(s) in which vocational training is
provided.
(B) Did the following collaborate with the “school” teachers and other “school” staff
who undertook that curriculum innovation: Don’t
Yes No Know N/A
(a) the local Islamic scholars/authorities 1 2 3 0
(b) the parents/guardians 1 2 3 0
(c) the leaders of the community that the “school”
1 2 3 0
serves locally
(d) officials of the Ministry /Department of State (for
1 2 3 0
Education).
(e) local NGOs (or other private sector agencies) 1 2 3 0
(f) International Development Agencies/
1 2 3 0
bodies/donors (such as the World Bank)
Others (Please specify) [Key: NA = Not Applicable]
……………………………………………………………………………………
(C) By whom were the specifics of the Curriculum innovation (such as the content of the
new curriculum, its pattern and its management) laid down? Not
Yes No Sure N/A
(a) the relevant Ministry /Department of State 1 2 3 0
(b) the “School” Authorities 1 2 3 0
(c) the Programme leaders 1 2 3 0
Others (Please specify) [Key: NA = Not Applicable]
……………………………………………………………………………………
(B) Does the “school” monitor its relationships with the community
(that it serves) through: Yes No N/A
(a) local surveys of the communities’ views 1 2 0
(b) feedback from the “school’s” former students 1 2 0
(c) informal individual meetings with stakeholders? 1 2 0
[Key: NA = Not Applicable]
(C) Is there a consultative body (such as a Governing Body or a Council)
in authority at the “school”? Yes No N/A
I 2 0
[Key: NA = Not Applicable]
If Yes :
(a) are the following represented on that body: Yes No
(i) Islamic scholars 1 2
(ii) The wider Community 1 2
(iii) Parents /Guardians 1 2
(iv) Business /Industry 1 2
(v) Central Government 1 2
(vi) Local Government 1 2
(vii) NGOs locally? 1 2
Others (Please specify) 1 2
……………………………………………………………………………..……
(b) What is the gender composition of that body? No. of Males
No. of Females
The delivery of programmes at this “School” requires staff who are professionally trained, and
possess up-to-date knowledge of their subject specialisms.
(B) Has it been difficult in the past three years to get professionally
qualified teachers to fill vacancies for various subject areas? Yes No
1 2
If Yes : Name the subject area(s) for which it has been difficult to recruit
professionally qualified teachers at the “school”.
…………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………….
6.2 In-Service training
In the past three years, how many of the teachers at this “school” have attended Staff
Development courses (such as those for up-grading the teachers’ skills for developing their own
teaching-learning materials, for classroom management, and so on)?
The Sponsors of the teachers
No. of
Other International
teachers The Central
National Agencies/
Types of courses who “School” Government
Agencies Bodies
attended attended
courses Yes no yes no yes no yes no
College of Education–
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
based courses
University–based courses 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
In-house (“School”-
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
based) courses
Others (Please specify)
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
…………………………….
1. The Education Policy of the Islamic Education System for Basic Education
and/or Non-Formal Education offered at the “school”.
2. About the administration of the Islamic Education System (at Basic and Non-
Formal Education levels)
3.1 Have the private financial contributions to your “school” varied over the last 5 years or so, or have they
been constant?
PROBE the ways in which the different types of contribution, such as the following must have varied:
• Students’ parents/guardians donations
• The contributions of the national network of Islamic “schools”
• The contributions of International funding agencies/donors?
4.1 What are the indicators of quality that you use for determining the quality of the education that you
provide?
PROBE: [Note for the Interviewer: Select the questions that are relevant in this “school’s” context)
Can I just check? Are the following used:
(a) (i) The respective percentages of students who complete each cycle successfully (by gender,
socio-economic status, ethnic group) every year, in recent years.
(ii) (To the interviewer: for the QSCs ask the percentage who successfully memorise the
Koran, every year, in recent years.)
5.1 Is the “community” that you serve participating in the running of the “school”/
PROBE: In what ways ? i.e. What form does community participation take locally?
PROBE: Is there:
• a School-Community Council
• a School-Community planning group?
5.2 Is community participation a condition for financial support from:
• Central Government
• Students’ parents/ guardians
• The local Community
• International funding agencies /donors?
5.3 Can I just check: Can you recall any issue that has been addressed and resolved through some form of
6.1 Can I ask you: are the “school” staff on the whole committed to this “school’s” vision of education?
PROBE: If yes,
• Can you describe how you have managed to fashion the “school” into such a committed
collective whole?
6.2 What are the key educational values that underpin the “school’s” educational and training
programmes?
PROBE: Would you say that the following are valued?
(a) the cultural and disciplinary heritage of which the Islamic Education authorities are a custodian
(b) Students’ participation in evaluating their programmes of study
(c) Students’ subject knowledge being given priority over their personal development
(d) The role of education in helping to solve the problem of social inequality
(e) The role of vocational training in meeting the requirement of the labour market for a competent
workforce (in quantity and quality)
(f) The emphasis on transferable “core skills” (such as Communication, IT and Literacy)
(g) New approaches to teaching and learning for the development of skills in students.
(h) Education as a force for social change (through enabling people to address critically the
prevailing social norms)
6.3 Are there clear behaviour codes in place for the students in the “school”?
PROBE:
• Does every student know what behaviour is expected of him/her?
• What are the sanctions for students’ misbehaviour?