EDUCATION: A Letter Addressed to Mr. Osman Mahjoub
Dean Of The Institute Of Bakht AL-Ruda

Primary Schooling

This stage starts at the age of five, and continues up to seven. Learning is through direct dictation and through games. By the use of dolls, pictures, and the encouragement to build figures of clay expressing animals and other objects, the child’s natural activity may well be managed. At this point, reading and writing must be totally avoided, until the mental meanings and images are established and expanded enough through tangible means of expressions, using objects, pictures, thrilling tales, and stories of wisdom. That is because imposing reading and writing before being needed to express oneself, stops thinking, restricts imagination, and presents writing as a goal in itself. Enlightened females better perform teaching children at this age.

Education here is managed in simple institutions (or kindergartens), at every village, built cooperatively by people (Nafir), using local materials- such as mud and thatch. A healthy reasonable meal, together with some sweets, dates, and milk may be offered to the small kids.

Only after seven, may the teaching of how to read and write begin, again in co-education, and at buildings similar to those described above. Schools of this level are built also co-operatively by local people (Nafir), then continually repaired and maintained. As much as possible, teachers should as well be females. The manual playful work of creating expressive figures of clay continues up to ten. Then early professional education (such as house-building and furniture construction) is formally introduced into curricula. It may start more likely as playing, making harmonized and balanced models of clay, wood, and hardened paper. Talents, and natural preferences among children, at these early stages, should be closely observed and supervised. Attention and recognition of new styles of life will characterize this phase. Schools at this stage should stand in better buildings and with furniture more elegant than that of the locals in the village, though made of the simple local materials. It is the age of open imagination; thus if properly oriented schooling would be pragmatic to continuously improve life for the better. Both male and female teachers may handle the stage. Co-education is also recommended for this level; gender segregation is practiced only at the professional education, where boys and girls play different roles. We have to concentrate on co-education because we aim for a normal life that would not put a man on one place and a woman on the other, as we do today.

Age ten to sixteen is the final educational stage for the bulk of boys and girls who will not be able to continue the formal schooling stages. This is partly because of limited vacancies at higher stages, which is mostly the case at the beginning due to our limited resources. On this phase, schools of boys are separated from schools of girls. Eventually, male teachers work with boys, while females teach the girls. Professional education for girls expands to include: washing, ironing, embroidery, snipping and sewing, cooking, and learning nutritional properties of local foods, family health and especially that of children, nursing, and a considerable range of good social habits. In short, a girl learns all what may prepare her as a good wife. In boys’ schools of this stage, males learn a good part of multiple professions to enable them to be broad minded and well behaved. They should be able to manage their local circumstances towards a better and more refined life than that of their parents. Meanwhile, they are prepared to be good husbands.

In the end of this stage, at the age of sixteen, an informal university education, during evenings, is optional. Boy and girl clubs for a continued advice, improvements, and acculturation may also be held.