Madrasah in Singapore: Tradition and modernity in religious education

Abstract

The educational policies of the Singapore government are driven by the needs of a modern knowledge-based society and economic development, with the state advocating modernity while the Muslim minority, arguably, appeared to be caught in tradition and holding on to “old fashioned” education. However, whether the new attempts at modernizing madrasah education driven by the state will succeed remains to be seen, as earlier  attempts of reformation driven by the Muslim community, or parts thereof, have been rather unsuccessful. This paper analyses the discourse between tradition and modernity of Islamic religious education in Singapore.