Modernisation of Islamic Schools : Macky’s Four Wishes – Lequotidien

The Daara community were hosted by the President of the Republic, Macky Sall, on Monday, November 28, 2022. A meeting which is in line with the Head of State’s wish to offer all children of Senegal, an equitable quality education.

The President Macky Sall, in his desire to offer all children in Senegal an equitable, quality education, initiated a national meeting with the community of daaras. Organised under the aegis of the Minister of National Education, Dr. CheikhOumar Anne, the meeting brought together: religious guides, associations and national federations of Koranic schools, Koranic teachers, Ndongo Daara, Ndéyu Daara, imams and ulema, ambassadors, civil society, social, technical and financial partners, teachers’ unions, etc. And, allowed the Head of State to commune with the actors of the subsector, to collect their opinions in order to take strong measures for a sustainable improvement of the situation of daaras in Senegal.« Investing in daaras, for territorial equity and the construction of an emerging Senegal » is the theme of this conclave. The representatives of the 14 regions of Senegal addressed the Head of State to expose the evils that, in their eyes, plague this subsector of national education.

After religiously listening to the various speakers, Macky Sall recalled that the sub-sector of daaras has undoubtedly earned Senegal a lot of satisfaction in recent years. In the various international competitions, young Senegalese have distinguished themselves by winning the first places.

Grand Prize of the President for the Recital of the Koran

As examples, he cited: Ndombor Sène in 2016 in Malaysia, Mouhamed Diallo, Sokhna Diarra Ngom, in 2017 still in Malaysia, Sokhna Maïmouna Lô, in 2018 in Dubai, Mouhamed Mahi Touré in 2021 in Morocco and Sokhna Ndaté Cissé, winner of the International Quran Recital Competition in Dubai last October. Very satisfied with these results, the Head of State announced the institutionalisation of the Grand Prize of the Head of State competition. A way, according to him, to create a healthy emulation in learners. In the same vein, Macky Sall indicated the strengthening of Arab-Islamic education for the promotion of our values and to face the defects of our society. He also argued that Arab-Islamic education is one of the means to deal with terrorism and violent extremism.

During the national meeting with the community of daaras, the President of the Republic also took strong measures and recommendations to the delight of the actors of this subsector of national education. Thus, he announced the relentless accompaniment of the process of modernisation of daaras by the construction of infrastructure and provision of equipment.

In addition, Macky Sall promised to help the « borom daara » establish school canteens. Also in the context of the modernisation of daaras, he announced the creation of opportunities for talibés by integrating vocational courses into the teaching of daaras. In addition, for health care in daaras, Macky Sall has taken the initiative to enlist talibés in universal health coverage as soon as possible. And to succeed in the challenge of modernising daaras, the President of the Republic invited stakeholders to set up a National Council of Associations of Koranic teachers to promote better consideration of this sub-sector of education. And to boost the actors, the President of the Republic announced the creation of a daarasdirectorate instead of an inspectorate.

 The icing on the cake, Macky Sall announced the institutionalisation of November 28 National Day of Daaras. The Head of State took the opportunity to highlight the many efforts made in this sector. These include the construction of 64 modern daaras, the rehabilitation of traditional daaras, the establishment of pre-school daaras, the recruitment of 665 Serigne daara into the civil service and 665 service providers.

At the end of the ceremony, Macky Sall presented Sokhna Ndatté Cissé, winner of the Quran recital competition in Dubai, with a distinction and an envelope of 10 million CFA francs as a reward. 

By Badé SECK / bseck@lequotidien.sn