Madrassahs to Modernise Teaching
Madrassahs to Modernise Teaching
A new curriculum for Islamic schools in Tajikistan, supplementing theological education with secular subjects, may help curb the spread of radical views among the country’s future Muslim leaders, analysts say.
A project funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office aimed at establishing a dialogue between religious and secular public figures in Tajikistan has drawn up a new curriculum for the madrassahs or Islamic schools.
In addition to traditional theological courses, pupils will now study languages, IT, literature, history and law.
The head of the project Faridun Hodizoda told NBCentralAsia that the curriculum used in the country’s 20-plus madrassahs has not been reviewed since the 16th or 17th century, except for a brief interlude in the early 20th century when advocates of Jadidism, a modernising trend in Central Asian Islam at the time, tried to revamp religious education.
If a pilot project proves successful, teachers in madrassahs all over the country, who are mostly graduates from Tajikistan’s Islamic University, will roll out the new curriculum.
The Ulema Council, the senior Muslim clerical body in Tajikistan, approves of the initiative, especially since some madrassahs already teach English and computer skills.
Saimuddin Nematov, the Ulema Council’s spokesman, said, “If the curriculum is introduced in all religious schools, pupils will have a more rounded knowledge when they leave, and that is what both religious leaders and their students want.”
Political scientist Saifullo Safarov says the madrassahs currently turn out people with very limited horizons who are unable to do any work except becoming the imam of a mosque.
Muhiddin Kabiri, head of the Islamic Rebirth Party, says that apart from making madrassah graduates more competitive on the job market, the introduction of secular components to a religious education will help prevent the spread of radical views.
“Of course the roots of religious extremism don’t just lie in a poorly educated clergy - there are other factors too, but if we work on this area we will at least be able to solve part of the problem,” said Kabiri.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
A project funded by the Swiss Cooperation Office aimed at establishing a dialogue between religious and secular public figures in Tajikistan has drawn up a new curriculum for the madrassahs or Islamic schools.
In addition to traditional theological courses, pupils will now study languages, IT, literature, history and law.
The head of the project Faridun Hodizoda told NBCentralAsia that the curriculum used in the country’s 20-plus madrassahs has not been reviewed since the 16th or 17th century, except for a brief interlude in the early 20th century when advocates of Jadidism, a modernising trend in Central Asian Islam at the time, tried to revamp religious education.
If a pilot project proves successful, teachers in madrassahs all over the country, who are mostly graduates from Tajikistan’s Islamic University, will roll out the new curriculum.
The Ulema Council, the senior Muslim clerical body in Tajikistan, approves of the initiative, especially since some madrassahs already teach English and computer skills.
Saimuddin Nematov, the Ulema Council’s spokesman, said, “If the curriculum is introduced in all religious schools, pupils will have a more rounded knowledge when they leave, and that is what both religious leaders and their students want.”
Political scientist Saifullo Safarov says the madrassahs currently turn out people with very limited horizons who are unable to do any work except becoming the imam of a mosque.
Muhiddin Kabiri, head of the Islamic Rebirth Party, says that apart from making madrassah graduates more competitive on the job market, the introduction of secular components to a religious education will help prevent the spread of radical views.
“Of course the roots of religious extremism don’t just lie in a poorly educated clergy - there are other factors too, but if we work on this area we will at least be able to solve part of the problem,” said Kabiri.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
