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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
Mauritania has long had an extensive but scattered education
system consisting of the religious and cultural education
provided by marabouts. Indeed, it was largely through the efforts
of these teachers that Islam was spread throughout West Africa.
Although in the past Islamic education was largely limited to
fundamental religious teaching, the children of white Maures
often studied Arabic and simple arithmetic as well. Both boys and
girls received traditional education, at first within the family
and later in the local Quranic schools operated by the marabouts.
They usually began their education around the age of eight, the
boys studying for about seven years, the girls for perhaps only
two.
Traditional Islamic schools were found in the nomadic
communities and in settled villages. Because particularly
renowned marabout teachers would be surrounded by families who
wished their children to learn from these masters, several
centers of more advanced Islamic learning developed around the
camps of these marabouts. In these centers, students learned
grammar, logic, and other subjects, as well as traditional
religious subjects. Many of the centers developed sizable
collections of manuscripts through the efforts of the great
marabouts.
The tradition of religious learning centers continued through
the late colonial period. The Institute of Islamic Studies,
founded in 1955 at Boutilimit, was the only Islamic institution
of higher learning in West Africa. It provided instruction in
traditional Islamic subjects and teaching methods. After
independence, it was moved to Nouakchott, where it continued to
draw upon the manuscript collection built by the marabouts of
Boutilimit as well as other libraries of traditional Islamic
literature in Chinguetti, Kaédi, Mederdra, Oualâta, and
Tidjikdja.
Data as of June 1988
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