Integrated Qur'anic Education
Nigeria Case Study
In Asia and Africa where Islam is predominant, many out-of-school children attend non-formal schools called Qur'anic schools. This paper examines the nature of these schools broadly and in the context of Northern Nigeria in particular. It will try to shed some light on the role these schools play in Muslim/Islamic societies, how they are perceived by local communities, and their comparative advantage over formal schools given the agrarian/rural nature of the environment under which they operate. The paper will also outline current global strategies to universalize basic education and discuss how the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), in alignment with these strategies, plans to transform Qur'anic schools as centers of learning to fast-track its national education reforms.
It will later detail how the Nigeria Northern Education Initiative (NEI), a USAID-funded education project implemented by Creative Associates International from 2010 to 2014, collaborated with local governments to incorporate core subjects such as literacy and numeracy, along with vocational training, into the Qur'anic curriculum and mainstream them into the basic education system in Northern Nigeria. In conclusion, the paper will review best practices that could be replicated elsewhere.