3 research outputs found
Pounding Millet During School Hours: Obstacles to Girlsâ Formal Education in Niger
Based on in-depth interviews with Nigerien women, this article demonstrates that while they value formal schooling for their girls, they are discouraged by the incompatibility between boko (formal schooling) and the important values transmitted by tarbiyya (education in the home) and mahamadiya (Islamic education). I argue that these tensions arise from a system of education that is not rooted in context. In the colonial era, education was a means of assimilation to the colonizer's values. More recently, neocolonial education projects serve the development theory of the moment and they tend to emphasize increased enrollment for girls without focusing on quality and content of that education. While the system imparts important skills such as literacy and numeracy, the more intrinsic goals of education such as empowerment and identity formation are not emphasized because, I argue, formal education does not reflect the social, cultural, religious and material context of most Nigeriensâ everyday lives. The ideas about educational reform, in Niger and in other Muslim countries, show that boko is not inherently incompatible with tarbiyya and mahamadiya, and that intrinsic goals of education can be met only by reconciling them.Sâappuyant sur des entretiens approfondis avec des femmes nigĂ©riennes, cet article montre que ces derniĂšres attachent bien de lâimportance Ă lâĂ©ducation formelle de leur filles, mais quâelles sont dĂ©couragĂ©es par lâincompatibilitĂ© entre boko (lâinstruction formelle), et les valeurs importantes transmises par tarbiyya (lâĂ©ducation familiale) et mahamadiya (lâĂ©ducation islamique). Je soutiens que ces tensions sont dues au fait que le systĂšme dâĂ©ducation est trop peu contextualisĂ©. Pendant la pĂ©riode coloniale lâĂ©ducation Ă©tait un outil dâassimilation des valeurs colonisatrices. De nos jours, les projets Ă©ducationnels nĂ©o-coloniaux sont mis au service de la thĂ©orie du dĂ©veloppement du moment et tendent Ă mettre lâaccent sur la scolarisation des filles sans se prĂ©occuper de la qualitĂ© et du contenu de lâenseignement dispensĂ©. Si le systĂšme permet de transmettre des compĂ©tences importantes telles que la lecture, lâĂ©criture et le calcul, il met peu lâaccent sur les buts intrinsĂšques de lâĂ©ducation tels que lâautonomisation et la construction identitaire. Ceci est dĂ» au fait que lâĂ©ducation formelle ne reflĂšte pas le contexte social, culturel, religieux et matĂ©riel de la vie quotidienne de la plupart des NigĂ©riens. Les rĂ©flexions courantes Ă propos de la rĂ©forme Ă©ducationnelle, tant au Niger que dans dâautres pays musulmans, suggĂšrent que boko nâest pas en soi incompatible avec tarbiyya et mahamadiya et que les buts intrinsĂšques de lâĂ©ducation ne peuvent ĂȘtre atteints quâen conciliant ces trois formes.