A case study of the rise and decline of Arabic in the further education and training phase in selected KwaZulu-Natal muslim schools.

Abstract

The rise of Arabic in Kwazulu-Natal is related to the relentless efforts of disenfranchised migrant Muslims who arrived in 1860. They believed a holistic Islamic identity requires balancing Islamic traditions and Academic excellence. Thus, Arabic was included as a school subject to further augment the Muslim school approach in 1975. However, in a period of unequal and segregated Apartheid education, Arabic faced numerous challenges to survive as a school subject. Likewise, post-Apartheid desegregation and the abrogation of state-aided Muslim schools resulted in the proliferation of Muslim schools and the migration of Arabic from public and state-aided to Independent Muslim schools. Concomitantly, Muslim schools pledged at the 1996 Islamisation Conference in Cape Town to renew the early Muslim school approach and transform them into enclaves of incubating an Islamic ethos via Islamic traditions. Despite the conference endorsing Arabic as an integrative component of Islamic traditions, from around 2006, Arabic as a school subject began its decline in South African Muslim schools. This study attempts to unravel the rise and decline of Arabic in KwaZulu-Natal schools, focusing on selected Muslim schools.