Blending Islamic and Western Traditions of Education: Integrated Islamic Schools in Ghana

• In Event: 34.078 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 34.078-10 - Culture and Islamic Education

Abstract

Integrated Islamic public schools enroll a substantial number of pupils in Ghana. Blending Western and Islamic educational traditions, these schools are essentially government regulated, privately managed and jointly funded public schools with a religious mandate and character. Using qualitative data from interviews and focus groups with integrated Islamic school teachers, school directors, parents and ‘ulema (Muslim intellectuals) from four regions of Ghana, this paper explores and clarifies the appeal of “integration” discussing how stakeholders on the ground negotiate the interaction of “secular” and “religious” educational traditions in their schools and use both to foster religious identity and observance but also Ghanaian Islamic citizenship, political participation and economic development of Muslim regions.

Authors

• Helen N Boyle, Florida State University

• Maedeh Agharazidermani