Education and Koranic Literacy in West Africa 4m.iiiii hat are the "practical" and lit- pean vessels on the West frican coast erate skills that students ac- and the institution of the trans-Atlan- quire at different levels of WVcst Afri- tic slave trade and the triangular com- _ can Koranic schooling? Wkhat are thc merce among Africa, Europe and the Lvarious daily uses to which such New World that it fueled. Thc back- know-ledge is put and the networks bone of trans-Saharan commerec ini- through which it is developed and ap- tially consistcd of netwvorks of towns ^ plied? Koranic schoolirng in its many established along trade routes by itin- forms constitutes a long-standing par- erant merchants from North Africa, allel system of education throughout graduallv sedentarized and/or rc- much of the African continent - one placed by local groups. The proceeds that has operated for centuries, yet of this tradc furnished much of the ~i. u remains relatively tunknowvn to devel- revenue needed for State-building. opment planners and is therefore scl- dom taken into explicit account in The structure of a submerged system their policies and strategies. The svstem of Islamic learning across Islam has an extended history in W W'est Africa IS sevreral-ticred though West Africa and Islamic educational less rigidly structured than its West- svstems have in fact operated there s ~~~~~~~~ern counterpart. In addition, it now- for much longer than have Western includes a traditional track (the ones. The Islamic faith first sprcad Koranic sequence per se), a formal across North Africa in thc 7th cen- school or "modern" equivalent turv. By the 10th century, communi- (Franco-Arab schools, sometimes No. I11 ties of Muslim merchants and schol- called m6dersa), and intermediate or August 1999 ars had been established in several commercial centers of the Western Sahara and the Sahel. By the 11th or 1K Notes reports periodically on Indig- 12th century, the rulers of kingdoms enous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in such as Takrur, Ancient Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is published by the Africa Region's Knowledge and Gao had converted to Islam and had Learning Center as part of an evolving appointed Mluslims who were literate IK partnership between the 'World in Arabic as ad-visors. Bank, communities, NGOs, develop- ment institutions and multilateral orga- UWN,\O.^-X9, . . . nizations. The viewvs expressed in this Trans-Saharan trade flourished in article ar those of the authors and }G3,1111 pre-colonial times and carried most of should not be attributed to the World the considerable merchandise ex- Bank Group or its partners in this iini- tiative. A wvebpage on IK is available at changed between Africa and Europe http://www.worldbank.org/aftdr/ik! from the 11th to the 16th centuries default.htm - until, that is, the arrival of Euro- 2 hybrid forms often referred to as "improved Koranic school- and Western ideas) largely hidden knowledge culture rival- ing." At the base of the traditional network are the maktab ing - and frequently intersecting or hybridizing with - or Koranic schools, the primary level of the system, where the official one, even though in most African countries the children begin, starting somewhere between the ages of 3 basic institutions of the system - the maktab - have not and 10, to Icarn the Koran and the basic duties of Islamic been considered as schools at all. Yet Koranic students, life. Next come the madris or secondary schools where teachers and believers in general throughout the region those who have essentially memorized and transcribed are highly aware of the long history of the faith in West Af- large portions (at least) of the Koran progress to a study of rica and of many of its greatest scholars and teachers, some what is referred to as "Islamic scienec" (ilm), including the of whom exercise major political and economic power, par- written traditions of the religion and a variable amount of ticularly in Sahelian regions. Those involved for years in the other didactic material. A few select students proceed be- cash crop trade in Niger, Mali and Senegal, for example, yond this level to advanced study either with famed imams havc developed well-capitalized commercial networks with and niarabouts of the region or at Islamic universities in ramifications in urban real estate and industry, and in- North Africa and other Muslim countries. creasingly abroad. All this considerably strengthens the at- traction of different forms of Koranic education as gate- At least in its elementary forms -represented by local Koranic schools - Islamic learning is widespread through- ways to an alternate and sometiies thriving economic and political system. In short, there is a strong trans-national out W\cst Africa. An estimate of the number of such schools in Niger alone in 1990 put them at 40,000. This form of a education constitutes in reality an alternate and (to official Variable quality, extensive coverage Despite these tendencies toward uniformity in underlying religious culture and basic orientation, the nature and quality of instruction in Koranic schools and the Islamic would be of interest to: system as a whole vary noticeably from one region to an- other. In areas of Islamic allegiance, the vast majority of Name children attend Koranic school. They learn principally Institution through memorization of the sacred text. Boys predomi- nate in the student body, but frequently in ratios of no Address more than 3/2 or 2/1 in the early grades. In a few regions, like Guinean Futa Jalon, enrollment rates are virtually the same by gender. The "depth" of Islamic instruction in these regions is quite variable, but in general a significant proportion of male students who remain beyond the initial Koranic les- sons do continue to some level of higher study. Since un- derstanding of cither modern or classical Arabic over and beyond the Koranic texts themselves is quite rare, (except among those having pursued studies in Arabic-speaking * S. 5 i i E i lli countrics), the highest levels of practical literacy-that is, _- = : L 5Z5 ==_ ability to read and write correspondence, keep records and generally communicatc in writing - are most frequently 3 found in those areas like upland Guinea, the Sine Saloum Applications of Koranic training of Senegal, and the Hausa-speaking regions of Niger, where The most frequent scular application of Koranic learning there is a developed svstem for transcribing African lan- at the individual level is wvriting and correspondence, and guagc with Arabic characters (called ajami in the Hausa the most prominent career destination of accomplished and Fulani cascs). In Guinea, 93 percent of a samplc of 77 Koranic students is to become themselves marabouts or male K(oranic "alumni" interviewed claimed reading and imams becausc therc is considerable demand for teachers writing capacity in ajami. In Senegal, between 25 and 75 * ' ' ~~~~~~~and dispcnsers of religious and incantatorv scrvices, given percent of male adults in villages contacted, and between the r 10~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ and 25pretoroe limdtesm ee fapid e.xpansion of West African Islam in recent years. Over a quarter of the Guinean respondents, however, cited learning. In all eases, the proportions were well - if not the cxercise of local public functions as a practical out- multiples - above the litcracy ratc in French for the same come of their training, and similar trends are evident predominantly rural communities. across the region. On the other hand, onlv 26 percent of the Guincan However, collective and communal applications are no sample of former Koranic students considered themselves less frequent. Islamic morality, jurisprudence and authority 'nuimerate" as comnparcd to 93 percent wvho considered numeratselve asbcopare to 93itetexts pecntm wo cjonsidr o have been used as the backbone of traditional governance themselves abne toams srite tonextshinea i have maj iri o for centuries throughout the Sahel. In fact, most of the vo- numaricaboutskia imam snee wavrnontheless tic haves auire u cabulary in major Sahelian languages having to do not just numericalnsill ine orequnevwayioranothe which helpe ioun- with religion, but with laws, local administration, diplo- derstanding the frequency with which they are found to be handling accounting responsibilities in communitv affairs. y and higher learning as well is derived or directly bor- rowed from Arabic. WVhilc vocational initiation is not an explicit curricular component of Koranic schooling, most students who con- Conclusion: Alternate avenues to knowledge tinue beyond the most elementary level do end up working in some apprenticed position either to the marabout or to The consequence of these factors is that basic Islamic in- an affiliated craftsman or merchant, if only to help pay for struction - of the kind dispensed in local Koranic schools his or her upkeep and tuition. Koranic schooling tends to - has three essential dimcnsions of practical application include a practical element integrated into the community, and impact in W`est Africa today: though only systematized as real vocational instruction in * It constitutes an introduction to the technology of writ- exceptional cases; and Koranic students are imbued with ing -and, to a lesser extent, that of numeracy - for a siz- the notion that they will need to fend for themselves or find able proportion of the population, both mcn and women, appropriate sponsorship beyond a certain age. This many of whom would otherwise have little or no schooling. prompts one Senegalese researcher to remark, `Edeole Those who proceed far enough to gain fluency in reading, coraniquc forme des createurs d'activites, alors que le wiriting and calculating for daily practical purposes (gener- systeme formel forme des demandeurs d'emploi" ("Koranic ally in soine African language, as functional knowledge of schools train employment-creators, while the formal sys- Arabic itsclf is even more restricted) constitute overall a tem trains employment-seckers.") minority, though a sizable one in some areas. Moreover, lit- cracy in Arabic script has beeome a point of reference in many rural and small town settings thought of as largely "illiterate" in WNestern terms. 4 * It is a training as well for local leadership, since solid Is- lamic instruction is generally accepted to be an indicator of morality, honesty and discipline and therefore a primary qualification for assuming positions of responsibility. * In addition, it has always been - and, given recent disaf- fection with formal schooling, has incrcasingly become - an avenue for social and economic advancement because of the close relationship between Islamic networks and tradi- tional commercial ones throughout the region. Koranic school graduates are more likely to find employment or ap- prenticeship with traditional merchants and in informal sector marketing operations. Thiis article is based on research conducted by local researchers withl the support ard technical supervision of Peter Easton, Associate Professor, Graduate Studies in Adult Education, Florida State University, with the active coUabora- tion of the concerned African communities. The research, was camed out under the joint aegis of the Club du Sahell OECD, the CILSS and the Associationfor the Development of education in Africa (ADEA).