The Reform Agenda for Madrasah Education in Singapore

Abstract

As governments in many countries review their education systems to optimise their human capital in an age of globalisation, religious schools such as madrasahs (Islamic or Muslim schools) have also come under state scrutiny. This article examines the Singapore government's reform agenda for madrasah education in the country. It argues that the Singapore government advocates a reformist Muslim view of madrasah education that emphasises the learning of academic subjects such as English, mathematics, and science, and raising the academic standards of the madrasahs so as to increase the economic prospects of madrasah graduates. To carry out its reform agenda, the government presented the “problem” faced by madrasah students within an economic survival rhetoric. It then made tactical changes to “solve” the problem by relying on the Compulsory Education Act, providing generous state support to raise the academic standards of the madrasahs and revamping the madrasah system.