Sudan - Preprimary & Primary Education

Although traditional religious instruction has been combined with instruction in other subjects in Sudan's modern education system, Quranic schools are still an important component of educating Sudanese Muslim youth. Quranic schools existed as the first educational institutions in Sudan, and even today the Quranic schools are the first educational experience for many children, and there can be elaborate, formal ceremonies for pupils' first admission to the Quranic school—for example, shaving pupils' heads and writing bismallah ar-rahman ar-rahim, on the palms of students' hands, committing at the start the children's education to the cause of Islam in the name of Allah.

Classes in Quranic schools begin each day with a morning session, followed by an afternoon session, and a later evening session for students who cannot attend the day sessions—for example, if they are enrolled in a primary or elementary school. Thus, students have the option of attending both Quranic and primary school at the same time. The school week in Sudan runs from Saturday to Wednesday, as in most Islamic nations, with the weekend being on Thursday and Friday.

Children normally begin study in the Quranic schools between the ages of three and six. The curriculum consists mainly of memorizing the Quran, and learning the Arabic alphabet for this purpose. Equipped with a wooden slate and a simple ink made of soot mixed with gum, students are economically prepared to begin writing the Arabic alphabet and sections of the Quran. Complete memorization of the Quran normally takes around five years, sometimes longer, and there are ceremonies at the end of each of five stages of memorization.

Competitions for children to demonstrate their ability in reciting the Quran from memory offer rewards to those students who have successfully mastered the memorization challenge. 

The Quranic schools are not without their critics inside and outside the Muslim world. One of the main criticisms leveled against Quranic schools, in some cases by students who have gone through such schools early on in their education, is the fact that rote memorization and the ability to recite the Quran without understanding are seen as pointless aims of the Quranic curriculum. In many Quranic schools in countries with non-Arabic speaking Muslim believers, there are students who do not understand the words they are being taught to chant with religious fervor, and hence there is no true progress in understanding Arabic without the comprehension of memorized Quranic verses. To some, the ability of a child to chant the entire text of the Quran without understanding the words is evidence for divine inspiration, while to others the practice denotes a futile use of minds that could be put to better tasks.

In the past, some Quranic schools did not always follow this tradition of memorization without comprehension—emphasizing instead poetry, composition, arithmetic, and Arabic grammar in the curricula before moving on to detailed study and memorization of the Quran. There are critics of the Quranic curriculum, but advocates argue that at a minimum, students are introduced to Arabic, and get a foundation for further instruction. It may also be said that the schools socialize students into an Islamic community, instilling and inculcating respect for Islamic scholars and culture.

Read more: Sudan - Preprimary Primary Education - School, Schools, Quranic, Students, Children, and Sudanese http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1433/Sudan-PREPRIMARY-PRIMARY-EDUCATION.html#ixzz1LFhtKBzD