Arabic college syllabus development with the support of Bangladesh academics:

- by DR SLM RIFAI: UK -

            There is no doubt that the reformation of Arabic colleges is timely needed subject matter today in Sri Lanka. Ever since the Easter Sunday attack took place, the government and public are very much concerned about our Arabic colleges in Sri Lanka. The Muslim community spends millions of rupees for Arabic colleges. It has been administrating Arabic colleges freely without any governmental support. The well-wishers and Muslim philanthropic people have been donating their wealth and properties for Arabic colleges for long time. In fact, Muslim schools and Arabic colleges are established across the Island in lands that were endorsed ( waqf) by many Muslim philanthropic people. The Sri Lankan Muslim community did not ask fund from government to run all these Arabic colleges and in fact, there is not yet any suitable mechanism to incorporate Arabic colleges with Education or higher education ministry in Sri Lanka, yet, this move by Sri Lankan government to seek advice from some academic experts from Bangladesh is not a viable move. With all respect to these academics, I’m very much sceptical about this sudden move to seek advice of external academics for our Arabic college syllabus in this hasty way. I think that our local experts and academics are more suitable educationalists to develop a fully-fledged Arabic college syllabus. Our academics know well our social context, our problems and our needs in Sri Lanka. You can not expect any outsiders to know our social needs and social contexts. 

         It will need years hard work, researching and team works to develop any good syllabus for Sri Lankan Arabic colleges. I’m really dismayed and shocked to learn that these two Academics are visiting Sri Lanka on government request to write our Arabic college syllabus within two weeks. Please do not take me wrong, I’m not against any move to seek external advice to develop our Arabic college syllabus.  We could consult them and share their experience in Arabic college syllabus development and yet, we should entire depend on their model teaching and learning. We should not entirely depend on their syllabus to develop our syllabus. Today, the curriculum development is a dauting task. There is a strong plea from Muslim intellectual community that thousands of Arabic colleges in Sub-continents need some radical changes and reformation. I do not know how far Bangladesh succeeded in this reformation agenda to seek their academic advice on this matter. It needs years of preparation, researching, expert’s advice and team works to develop any syllabus.  Moreover, Sri Lankan academics and experts are more suitable educationalists to develop our Arabic college syllabus. The social circumstances and social contexts of Bangladesh is totally different from our social context and social structure. We live as a minority community in Sri Lanka. Our socio-cultural-religious problems are different from theirs in many ways. They will find it difficult to understand our social contexts and social needs. To draw a good syllabus, they need not only the traditional subject knowledge in Islam rather they need to know our context, our social needs and our problems in Sri Lanka with wider community. 

       It is true that Sri Lankan Muslim community has not yet, produced enough educationalists and experts in this area of curriculum development and yet, there are some good international experts on this area. There are some Sri Lankan PhD holders in Education and Islamic studies in many countries. Sri Lankan education ministry and Muslim cultural affair ministry could have sought their advice before they seek advice from Bangladesh academics. Dr Ameer Ali from Australia, Dr Alawi Shariffdeed, (PhD in Education),  Dr M.M Rafeek, (PhD in Muslim minority jurisprudence), Dr Ismath Ramzi,  (PhD in comparative religions), Rauf Zain ( PhD in Education), and there are so many local academics who could contribute more to develop our Arabic college syllabus than anyone else from outside world. There are so many Sri Lankan academics who work in many internationally recognised universities rather than seeking their academic advice and expertise, why these politicians take hasty decision on this important issue of curriculum development of our Arabic colleges. These politicians may have good intention to support Muslim community at this crucial juncture in our history and yet, wrong and hasty steps they take on this issue of syllabus development of our Arabic colleges will not help our community in long run.  

           Arabic college syllabus development is not an easy task. It is an exhausting task. It needs years of hard work to study our Arabic college syllabus, its teaching pedagogies, its teaching resource materials, its finance, its administrative system, its enrolment of students and many other relevant issues.  We know that the Muslim world produces thousands of Muslim clerics today from thousands of Arabic colleges all over the Muslim world. They make immense contribution to uplift the Muslim community spiritually and religiously: The Arabic college graduates in Sri Lanka face so many problems and difficulties. We produce hundreds of Arabic colleges graduates each year. Sorry to say that many of them find it hard to find jobs. It is because, our Arabic college syllabus does not include modern subjects to learn life skills and vocational training programs. Neither Sri Lankan government nor Muslim community has a mechanism to give them career guidance and career opportunity.  Today, Indian government takes some good measures to provide training for its Arabic college graduates in the field of IT and other modern subjects. Above all, to relate Islamic teaching into modern time, these Arabic college graduates not only need to master traditional Islamic science rather modern social sciences too.  To relate Islamic teaching into this modern world of artificial intelligence and digitalization, our Arabic college graduates need not only mere textual knowledge rather they need contextual knowledge of geopolitics, politics, finance, economics, sociality, history, and many modern areas. Otherwise, humanity will live in this modern world and yet, our Arabic college graduates will live in another world. People like Saharan find it difficult to relate Islamic teaching (as they have learned) into modern world around them that is why he and his cohort blew themselves up.  To avoid this kind of disaster in Sri Lanka our Arabic colleges must teach not only traditional sciences but also teach them contextual reading into Islamic texts. Therefore, modern areas of Islamic studies must be included in our Arabic college syllabus……