The Madrasa Resource Centers and their associated pre-schools are a flagship project of the Aga Khan Foundation. When his Highness the Aga Khan visited East Africa in 1985, communities brought forth their concern that their children were falling behind in school. Studies conducted by AKF illustrated that, in fact, early childhood education (between the ages of 3-6) is critical in the overall development of a child. Well, there’s certainly no denying this: while there’s some degree of “nature” to human development, it’s been proven over and over again that you become who you are through the inputs of your environment, i.e. “nurture.”
The creation of this type of madrasa (madrasa means school in Arabic) is – compared to what I have seen – unique. The community is motivated within itself to provide early childhood education services to their children. Through local facilitators, the Madrasa Resource Centers, these communities have been given the materials and support to build their own pre-schools, elect a school committee and find teachers to staff the facilities. Because it is a community based project, the result is sustainable and engaging: members, students, parents and beyond, have a stake in seeing their schools succeed.
Because community members were concerned that their children would not receive appropriate religious training if they attended these madrasas, the curriculum is split in two parts. Mornings emphasize reading, counting, learning, touching, feeling: all types of interactive activities that having nothing to do with that old “chalk and talk” method common here (and in Canada, on that note). Afternoons consist of religious studies. While I maintain my skepticism over religion itself, there’s no denying that this two-part method is the best way to ensure that children actually come to the madrasa and benefit from the secular side.
The two madrasas I visited were located in Mombasa. In one school, there were several classrooms split into different age groups. Students – from 3 years and up – were sitting crosslegged on the ground in school uniforms doing additions. In another school, the classroom was divided into two groups, each practicing their alphabets with the mwalimu or teacher.
The madrasas cater towards poor families that have use a portion of their small savings to send their children to these programs. In one school, each parent contributes 250 shillings a month. This goes towards teachers’ salaries (so that they don’t get poached by private schools with better offers), the school feeding program and other administrative needs. The classrooms are basic, but functional. They have made everything out of nothing: cardboard alphabets, hand drawn charts and reading guides, musical instruments made from bottle caps and wire. Children sit on the floor all day – and while it’s nothing like the clean-cut, yellow and pink classrooms of the nurseries I remember – what is needed is there. These madrasas are humbling.
