Islamic Education in the United Arab Emirates — Part I
Dr. Naved Bakali
Later this month, Tabah Futures Initiative will release a report on Islamic education in primary and secondary schools in the United Arab Emirates. This post is the first of a two-part series highlighting key points from the report.
Why Did We Do the Report?
Islamic education at the elementary and secondary school level is the primary means through which generations of Muslim children in the Arab region are learning about their religion. In many cases, it is the only means of direct religious instruction that young people receive. In short, contemporary Islamic education curriculums and pedagogy bear an immense responsibility for shaping religious identity that was otherwise more evenly distributed in society in previous generations. This responsibility has been amplified and increased with the problems of religious extremism that the region has been afflicted with over the last two decades. In societies across the region public debates and discussions on religion, extremism and the modern world have often implicated the content of Islamic education curricula as being a major causal factor. However, many of these debates have not relied on informed studies of issues around Islamic Education. As part of our commitment to broaden comprehension of issues concerning religious discourse in the contemporary context, Tabah Futures Initiative undertook the task of researching perspectives and approaches to on Islamic education in the context of the United Arab Emirates.
Background to the Report
Our study examined a number of pressing issues, which emerged from a panel discussion hosted by the Tabah Futures Initiative on contemporary challenges and opportunities in Islamic education (read a summary of the panel presentations here and here). From the meaningful insights that emerged from this panel, Tabah Foundation commissioned a report on the topic of Islamic Education to better understand some of the realities of Islamic Education in the UAE, as well as to aid and complement the many existing efforts of education specialists and institutions in the United Arab Emirates. The report was produced by the Tabah Futures Initiative in conjunction with Professors Mariam Alhashmi, of Zayed University and Nadeem Memon, of University of South Australia’s Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, both of whom have worked extensively in the field of Islamic Education in the UAE as curriculum directors and consultants.
Curriculum
The Islamic Education curriculum taught in all public and private schools across the UAE is provided and regulated by the Ministry of Education. All Muslim students in the UAE are provided with Islamic education as part of the school daily program with the allocated time ranging between 90 to 180 minutes weekly depending on the type of school and the grade level. The curriculum textbooks and the teacher guides are produced and provided to all schools by the Ministry of Education to be completely aligned with the developed standards. An exception to this was the Islamic education curriculum provided to the Muslim non-Arabic speaking students. The adopted English Islamic education curriculum, up to the academic year 2016–2017, was the “I Love Islam” series. However, starting from the academic year 2017–2018, the Ministry of Education made an English version of the locally developed curriculum available to all schools.Islamic Studies Textbooks serve as a guide of instruction, including the means and ends of instruction. Additional teaching and assessment strategies are included in separate teachers’ manuals.
Participants
The types of participants interviewed in this study included educational professionals, administrators of schools, teachers of Islamic Education, as well as parents of students who attend UAE schools. All Educational professionals that were interviewed had extensive backgrounds in the field with up to 22 years of practical experience. Interviews were lengthy, in depth conversations ranging from 45 minutes to an hour, posing open-ended questions relating to participants’ experiences with Islamic Education in schools, their views regarding challenges and opportunities for Islamic Education in the region, and their insights on areas of concern.
