Quality Enhancement in Madrasa Education: An Exploratory Study
This unique empirical study focuses on the different quality dimensions of the Madrasa education system in Kerala, southwestern India. Madrasa education is one of the largest networks of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the world. Despite originating several centuries ago in a vastly different social and cultural context, it continues to address the educational needs of a large section of the Muslim population in India. Although the Madrasa system has seen many significant developments over time, academia has not paid much attention to its functions, strengths and contributions. This study fills this lacuna, and is grounded in detailed empirical investigation based on ethnographic surveys and interviews with various stakeholders from the field comprising students, teachers, parents, management committees, Madrasa boards and educationists. It critically examines the existing Madrasa education system in terms of different quality dimensions, including curriculum planning and designing, curriculum transaction, assessment and evaluation, institutional management and infra structure. While appreciating the contributions of Madrasas in promoting education among the Muslim minority of India, the book also identifies their problems and suggests creative modalities. A timely contribution to a subject with great international appeal, it will be of great interest to policy planners, researchers, educators, students and scholars of formal and informal education, minority studies, political Islam, Middle East and Asian studies, sociology, history, and contemporary studies.
Dr K. Mohammed Basheer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Education of Aligarh Muslim University Centre at Malappuram in Kerala, India, having previously served as the Assistant Director of Arjun Singh Centre for Open and Distant Learning at Jamia Millia Islamia Central University, New Delhi, where he completed his doctoral research. His areas of interest include minority education, teacher education, comparative education, educational administration, and information communication technology. He is currently serving in an honorary capacity as the Chairman of Research, Education and Development Foundation International, New Delhi, and is also the Convenor of the Academic Consultancy Panel of TREND, an active NGO, and a Senate Member of Darul Huda Islamic University, India. Dr Basheer also has four edited books and several articles to his credit, and has participated in several national and international seminars and conferences.
"Dr Basheer’s Quality Enhancement in Madrasa Education makes an attempt to demonstrate some remarkable aspects of how the system presented a unique way of combining traditional and modern approaches to Islamic education. He fills many gaps in the literature by explaining various nuances that led to its successful trajectory through several decades. With critical engagement, he also suggests the ways in which the system can improve itself in the future. The book presents many insights for both the scholarly and the managerial communities of madrasas, and it will be one of the most significant stepping stones for any scholars in the field."
Sayed Haider Ali Shihab Thangal, Panakkad Chancellor, Darul Huda Islamic University; President, Indian Union Muslim League, Kerala, S. India
"Dr. Mohammed Basheer, in keeping alive the great modernist tradition of Aligarh Muslim University, has shed an important light on the madrasa system of Kerala. While facing its own unique challenges, which Dr. Basheer does not shy away from addressing, he shows that Kerala's madrasa system is a great model for Islamic education throughout India, which fully balances Islam and modernity. We owe a debt of gratitude to the author for illuminating a subject which is both of vital interest and highly controversial."
Professor Akbar S. Ahmed Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University, Washington, D.C.
"Dr Mohammed Basheer’s excellent account of madrasa education in India is an important and much needed contribution at a time when there is great confusion and misunderstanding over how Muslims in South Asia are educated. Basheer has made a tremendous effort to improve understanding and raise awareness of the key issues, as well as highlighting areas of reform and opportunities for change for the better. This work is of great value to scholars, community activists and policy makers working in this area."
Professor Tahir Abbas FRSA Senior Research Fellow, Royal United Services Institute in London; Formerly Professor of Sociology at Fatih University in Istanbul (2010-2016) and Birmingham University (2003-2009).
"The very title of the book denotes the unique undertaking of the author, namely to try and bring together a traditional concept, that of the Islamic institution of learning known as the madrasa, and the omnipresent idea of quality being a manageable key feature of products and services. Some of the author’s valuable findings suggest that quality improvement in this regard would entail better teacher training, the revision of textbooks and teaching/learning methods, as well as training and hiring more female teachers, especially at the higher levels. This study provides an in-depth and thorough approach with regard to the topic, which will hopefully pave the way for more such studies, beyond the scope of Kerala, in order to gain better knowledge of what is going on inside the Indian madrasas, in an attempt to reduce prejudice, make an effort to formalise this educational sector, and maybe to promote networking among the madrasas, which in turn may benefit the quality of teaching and learning."
Dr Mareike Jule Winkelmann University of Amsterdam
"Dr Basheer has attempted to systematically analyse the contribution of madrasas in promoting quality education in the state through his exploratory research as reported in the present volume. Quality enhancement in education has been always an ongoing process. In this book Basheer makes several research-based suggestions to further strengthen madrasas and enhance their contribution in imparting quality education at different levels. I believe that, besides providing an authentic guide to madrasa managements in the state, this work will prove to be of immense value to all those engaged in organising madrasas elsewhere and will provide them with a reliable basis from which to undertake a quality soul-search and valuable cues to refurbish their institutions."
Prof. Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqui Professor of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia Central University, New Delhi; Ex-Chairman, National Council for Teacher Education, MHRD, Govt. of India, New Delhi
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