Madrasah Education has a long history in Sri Lanka. It had been in the country
traditionally for several centuries in some form or the other. The Madrasah system,
for the first time, had been established in an organized manner in 1870s. By the time
Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, there were approximately 10 to 15
Madrasahs.
At present, there are 317 Madrasahs registered with the Department of Muslim
Cultural Affairs. Madrasahs are started and managed by individuals and groups of
people in different localities in Sri Lanka. Most of them are very small units with
average of 50 students in numbers. The learning period of these Madrasahs are
seven years, spent on learning Quran, Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence and related
sciences.
The individuals and groups people, who started these Madrasahs, consider that they
are performing a meritorious service to the betterment and enhancement of ethical,
moral, religious understanding of the people and betterment of the nation as whole,
which is greatly appreciable. The intention and perception of the founders are
laudable. It transpired that a very few of them are managed reasonably well. In order
to achieve the objective of producing high caliber Ulama, it is vital to make overall
improvements.
The present study revealed that the current MES has several concerns such as
formation/establishment, administration/management, curriculum and duration,
effective teaching-learning and adequate facilities, student admission criteria and
selection processes, infrastructure, recruitment of academic and other staff,
retention and retirement entitlements of the staff, and lack of career prospects. Due
to the above prevailing concerns as mentioned above, effective teaching and
learning activities of MES is affected.
In order to advance effective teaching and learning activities of MES, and its future
development, it is recommended to bring a central regulatory system to supervise
and regularize MES by a statutory arrangement. Moreover, all MES should be
brought under a Madrasah Accreditation Board (MAB), consisting of eminent
scholars and reputed professionals. It is further recommended to introduce an
operationalization plan to rearrange the categorization in terms of admission
criteria, number, specialization of studies, and other relevant factors of Madrasahs
and managed by a formally constituted Board of Management, under the purview
of the MAB.