Epistemology of Regional Education

What is the Epistemology of Education in Bangsamoro?

The Bangsamoro government recognizes the pre-colonial epistemology of education in the Bangsamoro built on the indigenous learning system and later evolved into a formal system of education:

(a) Education Among Bangsamoro. - Among Bangsamoros, this commenced from the ‘lihal’ or ‘kitab’ system, also called ‘halaqah’ or circle of learners around a pandita or guru (religious teacher) or residential type called ‘toril’; and with the pioneer Bangsamoro ulama.

(b) Education Among Non-Moro Indigenous Peoples. - Among non-Bangsamoro indigenous peoples, learning and education are borne out of their oral and customary traditions, passed on by the community through their elders.

(c) Secular and Spiritual Education Divide. - The arrival of colonial powers brought with them their Westernized version of secular and formal education system, and imposed a secular-spiritual wedge and marginalized the indigenous systems altogether branding them as backward and primitive;

(d) Majority-Minority Relations. - The contemporary education system in the BARMM and its preponderance for national identity, narratives and standards meant that the identities, narratives and standards of cultural minorities took a backseat and often ended up as symbolic and stereotypical;

(d) Addressing the Education Divide. - Thus, the purpose of education in the Bangsamoro shall be, on one hand, to narrow the wedge between these divides and on the other, to pursue a more inclusive, holistic, global, integrated and balanced system of education.

India: Crisis of duality at higher education gives Muslims a schizoid mind

By TCN New

New Delhi: A thought-provoking presentation on “Towards Muslim Educational Excellence: Epistemological and Quality Dimensions” was made here by Prof. Omar Hasan Kasule, professor of epidemolgy and bioethics, faculty of medicine, King Fahad Medical City; university of Malaya; University of Brunei; chairman of the Institutional Review Board KFMC, and head of Knowledge Exchange and International Collaboration, faculty of medicine, KFMC.

Dr. Kasule said that for Muslims all over the world there was a “crisis of duality” at the heart of higher education that gives Muslim a schizoid mind as this education frequently contradicts what they have learnt at the mosques and madarsas.

This duality has to be reconciled before the issue of quality is taken up. He wanted a single epistemological framework covering all knowledge – “secular and religious” – to overcome the problem. He called for “an integrated curriculum that fits in with the tawhidic paradigm”.

By tawhidic he meant a unified perspective that took in both secular and religious knowledge. He said good minds in different natural and social sciences that are well-versed in Islamic tradition should work on the idea.

The second aspect, he said, would be improving the quality of our knowledge. The search for knowledge should also be a search for excellence, which he translated as ihsan, a highly regarded value in Islam.

Ihsan, he elaborated, is the highest point of perfection of iman (faith). Excellence must be the hallmark of everything that a Muslim does, including the pursuit of knowledge.

Premier universities already have quality assurance departments, but new institutions also need to have them. His paper contained the details of a quality assurance system prepared on the basis of his 15-year experience in a South-East Asian university.

He said the issues of epistemology and unification of perspective on knowledge must be addressed for the ummah to revive. “Revival of Islam is already visible but it will take generations to carry it to the highest point of perfection”. A single lifetime would not be enough, and the reconstruction of the ummah requires immense patience and fortitude, he concluded.

The program titled "Crisis of Quality of Knowledge Systems" was organized on 6th August by Institute of Objective Studies.

Source: http://twocircles.net/2011aug09/%E2%80%9Ccrisis_duality_higher_education_gives_muslims_schizoid_mind.html