A Study of Madrassas and Other Quranic Schooling Centres (QSCS) in the Gambia, Mali, Niger and Senegal

This study was commissioned by UNESCO and undertaken by an ERNWACA cross-national research team in 2006/07. It included a survey of a cross-national sample of 105 Madrassas and 79 other QSCs (in short, “schools”). The results showed student enrolment increasing (but gender disparity decreasing). The increase was mostly in Privately-owned “schools” and Community “schools” but many had a fi nancial defi cit. The drop-out-rate among teenage girls was higher than among teenage boys. There were no tracer studies of school leavers’ destinations into work. Schooling was mostly seen as irrelevant to work. Yet there was a Life Skills component in the curriculum. Particularly arresting was the high proportion of the total weekly teacherstudent contact hours at “school” allocated to Islamic Studies and the study of the Arabic language. Teachers were not always involved in curriculum development. “School” Governing Bodies were male-dominated with parents/guardians and Islamic scholars represented but not local employers. Many “school” Managers were inadequately qualifi ed professionally. They attended professional development courses/workshops —but most teachers did not, even though they were unqualifi ed professionally. There was evidence of imaginative management initiatives in all four countries. Recommendations were made and elaborated into “Concept Papers” — proposals to underpin UNESCO’s intervention in the sector.