The National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC is yet to agree with the education experts at the Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC on the best way of formalizing Madrassa Education in Uganda.
Madrasa, commonly known as “Quran schools,” are institutions that educate Islamic theology. In Uganda, madrasas go as far back as 1844, when the first Arab traders and soldiers introduced Islam to the then King of Buganda Kabaka Ssuuna II’s court.
Even though these institutions have been teaching in Uganda and producing imams, sheiks, and Khadhis, security has previously forced them to close on allegations that they are hotspots for Islamic extremism and indoctrination. In light of the ongoing policy reform process for education, UMSC began lobbying the Ministry of Education to permit Muslim-founded schools to formally have a regulated dual curriculum.
However, NCDC officials continue to express skepticism about the notion of permitting a dual curriculum in schools. According to Dr. Grace Baguma, head of NCDC, the idea of a dual curriculum in any form may cause learners to be overloaded.
“The national curriculum was already designed indicating the content load that can be subjected to our learners at a given age and level of education, having them do dual curriculum would be overloading them,” she told our reporter during an interview.
Dr. Baguma believes that creating a formal curriculum and standards for the Madrasa education apart from the secular curriculum would be the best approach to accommodate it.
“Experts in this sector can create a completely distinct curriculum outlining the subject matter and learning objectives for each educational level. These curricula will be utilized in schools that want to study under such agreements if they are approved. There are several international schools with such agreements. This is the same notion,” she continued.
According to Baguma, there should be a level of comparability between the designed distinct madrassa curriculum and the mainstream national curricula, and if necessary, a student who has been enrolled in that system be permitted to enroll in a university utilizing assessments from that curriculum.
Baguma says that with the developed separate madrassa curriculum, there should be a level of equivalency with the mainstream national curriculum and where a learner who has been studying under that system can be allowed to enroll in university using assessments from that curriculum.
However, Sheikh Juma Bakhit Cucu, the Secretary of Education at UMSC says that the NCDC suggestions are misconceived. He says that UMSC’s proposal is just a bare integration of secular and Islamic education. To him, this will help learners satisfy religious needs and demand for secular education to get socialized into the labor market and understand the secular world.
“First, there is no scientific basis for the notion of overloading. Since students have been studying these two curricula together for a while, all we are asking for is a formalization procedure. This is not rocket science; I underwent the same, I did theology and also studied secular education to become an engineer,” he said.
Lukia Tebesigwa, the headmistress of Busiika Muslim Secondary School supports Sheikh Cucu’s claim by pointing out that there is already evidence that students can complete the two curricula extremely well. Her observations show that students easily achieve in both academic disciplines and thus appealed to the ministry of education to consider this issue without bias.
A section of Muslim-founded schools under the Uganda Quran School Association-UQSA have been offering madrassa education and also developed a curriculum that is followed by member schools which are later assessed by Islamic National Examination Board.
UQSA has also developed a school structure including primary (Ibtida) which is covered in six years, O-level (Idaad) covered in 3 years, and A-level (Thanawi) which is also 3 years.
According to Sheikh Cucu, the primary section curriculum has basically six subjects namely: Arabic language, Qur’an, Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Tawheed (study of the unity of God), Hadith (sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)), Seerah (Prophet Muhammad’s biography), and Tarehe (Islamic history) make up the bulk of the primary section curriculum, according to Sheikh Cucu.
Although a section of urban schools is teaching madrasa education without much interference, there are incidents where security officers have repeatedly raided and closed them. For instance, in between 2013 and 2016 there were reports of such raids in Kalungu, Luweero, Kampala, Mukono, Bukomansimbi, and Buikwe districts among others.
Muslim clerics who have been conducting this education away from registered schools have also been arrested and many times they have been charged with human trafficking.
According to UMSC, the formalization process is being considered in order to resolve the aforementioned misunderstandings, and it is anticipated that policies describing how Islamic knowledge can be transmitted to students, the timing of lessons, standards, and who should teach will be developed in order to put an end to the ongoing confusion.
The Muslim community also acknowledges that without such standards, certain local sheiks, imams, and Muslims on their own might open Madrasa schools without adhering to national regulations or the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council.URN
