NIGER: KORANIC SCHOOLS CALL FOR HELP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 NIAMEY 000728

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TAGS: EAID PINR SCUL SOCI PGOV PREL PTER NG
SUBJECT: NIGER: KORANIC SCHOOLS CALL FOR HELP

REFS: A. 06 NIAMEY 1193

B. 06 NIAMEY 746

C. NIAMEY 158

D. NIAMEY 713

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Classified By: POLITICAL OFFICER ZACH HARKENRIDER FOR REASON 1.4 (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) During recent travel across southern Niger, Poloff
interacted with traditional and religious leaders and
religious educators. In each instance, they were concerned by
the quality and diversity of instruction they were able to
offer in their madrassas. Religious leaders felt that many
Nigerien madrassas lacked the resources -- though not the
will -- to offer vocational, health, and life-skills
instruction that would enable their graduates to be
economically and socially viable members of their
communities. Given madrassas' central role in Nigerien
education, improving their quality is a goal of the
Government of Niger (GON) and should be a goal of the USG.
Going beyond education, mainstream clerics noted that the
fundamentalist Izala sect could offer its parishioners more
material benefits and assistance than the traditional orders
could, and that this is an important factor in determining
the allegiance of many Muslims in the world's least developed
country. These discussions suggest that USG development
interventions can (and should) help to meet a significant
demand for improved madrassa education. We would thereby
bolster Niger's traditional, moderate Islamic leadership and
help madrassa students integrate economically and socially.
END SUMMARY

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NIGERIEN ISLAM AND THE MADRASSA
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2. (C) During recent travel to the southern Nigerien
population centers of Zinder, Maradi, and Birni N'Konni,
Poloff interacted with a number of Imams, Islamic educators,
and traditional chiefs. (In Niger the latter embody both
spiritual and temporal power). Like most Nigerien Muslims,
our interlocutors were traditional Sufis, usually of the
Tidjaniya or Quadiriyya brotherhoods. While conservative,
these leaders practice a syncretistic version of Sunni Islam
that mixes African traditions with Koranic and scriptural
guidance (reftel A). While this makes their version of Islam
more socially conservative in some instances, it also seems
to increase tolerance for ambiguity and other approaches to
faith. It therefore seems fair to describe them both as
"traditional" and "moderate," as opposed to "fundamentalist,"
or "textualist" -- terms which suggest strict Koranic
interpretation. Most of the clerics Poloff met had positive
things to say about Christians and the west; most were
involved in local interfaith dialogue efforts; most respected
the Government of Niger (GON)'s status as a
"non-confessional" (as distinct from "secular") state.


3. (C) None of that is true of Niger's small but visible
Izala community. A fundamentalist school prominent in the
Shari'a states of northern Nigeria, Izala receives
substantial funding from Middle Eastern sources that enables
the sect to punch above its weight in mosque construction,
charity and social services, and proselytization. Izalists
use financial largesse and their associations with Middle
Eastern and Nigerian wealth to attract parishioners. Mission
contacts note that many otherwise moderate Nigeriens are
drawn to Izala by virtue of its perceived ability to meet
their economic and material needs. While Izala's allure may
be more financial than theological, the former attraction is
potent in the world's least developed country. Izalists are
regarded by traditional Nigerien Muslims as "troublemakers"
who absent themselves from community life and African
traditions, practice veiling and cloistering of women, and
have little tolerance for other Muslims -- let alone members
of other faiths.


4. (C) Interestingly, while moderate Muslim contacts were

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concerned with Izala's material resources, they were less
concerned by its role in educating the young. Most Nigerien
madrassa students still attend traditional sects' schools and
it seems that Izalist leaders are currently more interested
in winning adult converts than in educating the next
generation. When speaking of education, Poloff's
interlocutors were not concerned with competition with the
Izalists (indeed there is some evidence that the two groups
share concerns over Koranic education),but with their
students' ability to get real jobs after graduation. Madrassa
education is not a battlefield between tradition and
fundamentalism, but it is perhaps a tool through which
traditional sects and clergy can be strengthened. Madrassa
education matters in Niger. While attendance at modern,
secular, government schools is mandatory, weak enforcement of
school truancy laws and a historical reluctance on the part
of parents (particularly Hausas) to send their children to
modern schools leaves many students entirely to the
madrassas. Most Nigerien parents are comfortable with the
idea of madrassa education. Attendance at madrassas tends to
be enforced by familial and social pressure in a way that
public school attendance is not.

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WHAT MADRASSA EDUCATORS WANT...
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5. (C) Poloff asked what sort of education madrassa educators
would need to offer to meet their communities' needs. What,
in fact, would they like to offer, if they had additional
means at their disposal? Imam Mounirou Issoufou of Zinder
offered some answers. Issoufou and his madrassa are
representative of traditional Islamic education in Niger. His
madrassa teaches Koranic recitation and memorization to 314
students, ranging in age from three to twenty. Perhaps
fifteen or twenty percent of these students also attend
government schools during the day, and only come to the Imam
in the evenings at the behest of their families. But for most
of these students, this free madrassa is their only school.
The Imam's students are mostly from working and lower-middle
class families in Zinder city, though a smaller number are
borders from the surrounding countryside. Yet, Nigerien
parents of all classes regard this form of Islamic education
as at least a necessary supplement to the liberal western
education dispensed in the government schools. Most Nigeriens
will therefore undertake several years of supplementary
Koranic studies during their school years. Mounirou's own
education was entirely at the hands of his father, a Koranic
teacher of great repute in Zinder. The Imam is a Tidjaniya
cleric. This brotherhood is dominant in Zinder, claiming the
allegiance of the Sultan of Zinder and his court, eighty
percent of the local clergy, and seven out of eleven
principal mosques.


6. (C) Imam Mounirou's concerns were both personal and
reflective of broader community anxieties. His students'
futures are in question. Even those who also attend
government schools are subject to an overly formal,
economically irrelevant French curriculum little changed
since independence. The quality of teaching in public schools
is abysmal and most students pass because their parents can
afford to pay for private tutoring or for outright bribes to
teachers (reftels B, C). For his part, Mounirou cannot do
much more for the children, but he would like to. Stressing
the need for vocational rather than classical-liberal
education, he ticked off a list of skills that schools like
his wish to impart: health and sanitation training; and, job
skills like farming, livestock raising, masonry, and
tailoring. He noted that each of these trades has an
association in Zinder that could partner with the madrassas
to provide training. He was confident that students with
those skills could find steady employment.


7. (C) Zinder Malam (Islamic teacher) Bachir Abba is a
"modern marabout." In dress, language (French),age, and
preoccupations, he cuts a very different figure from the
other clergy and traditional leaders Poloff met. Yet, he
offers the same advice with respect to the needs of Koranic
students. A part-time Koranic teacher and construction
contractor, he is also the Secretary General of the Zinder

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based "Union des Ecoles Koranique de Niger." Abba works with
all sects -- even the Izalists -- on questions of Koranic
education. He argued that, whatever their differences were in
other areas, Izalists and traditional Muslims worked well
enough together on issues of education, and had similar
perspectives as to students' needs. He described three types
of Nigerien religious school: modern madrassas, traditional
Koranic schools, and "Lycees Franco-Arabe," or Franco-Arabic
high schools. A modern madrassa has real classrooms and a
broad curriculum that offers education in geography, science,
religion, and philosophy etc. as well as Koranic studies. The
medium of instruction is French or Arabic, though local
languages like Hausa prevail at the lower grade levels. It is
intended to offer after-hours instruction to public school
students who seek Islamic education. However, like its
traditional counterpart, the modern madrassa has many
students who do not attend "mandatory" GON schools at all.
Lycees Franco-Arabe are GON schools, but on a compromise
model. They provide children from more conservative families
with religious and Arabic language instruction in addition to
French and a full modern curriculum. Traditional Koranic
schools, which Abba described as "the greatest plague on
Koranic schools in Zinder," are often outdoors and subject to
the elements. Teachers are Imams like Issoufou, perhaps
assisted by some older students or "disciples." Traditional
madrassas' offerings are limited to Koranic and religious
teaching and perhaps some religious philosophy. Their medium
of instruction is Hausa, with limited exposure to Arabic
through Koranic memorization.


8. (C) Abba noted that the problems facing madrassa students
were identical to those facing Nigerien students in general.
Everyone needs to escape from sclerotic and economically
irrelevant curricula -- whether religious or secular. Young
people need job training that can offer them the prospect of
post-graduate employment. Abba offered specifics similar to
those of Imam Issoufou. He noted that trade associations and
the GON-run "Nigertec" vocational training institutes could
partner with madrassas to offer vocational training. Students
should learn carpentry, modern construction techniques,
tailoring, metal working, small engine repair, craft
production, and how to run small businesses. Modern farming
and animal husbandry techniques and animal purchase / re-sale
cooperatives also made his list. When Poloff suggested
civics, literacy, and health / hygiene Abba agreed
enthusiastically. These are the ideas that have local support.


9. (SBU) The foregoing would hardly qualify as a classical
liberal education, but the failure of French-derived modern
education to qualify Nigeriens for the sort of jobs their
economy generates is a subject of considerable frustration in
the country. In a May 7 meeting with a youth NGO "Club
Republicain" in Birni N'Konni, young, well educated Nigeriens
complained that there were as many as 11,000 unemployed
university graduates in the country. Gone are the days when a
guaranteed job in the civil service or a parastatal company
awaited any graduate of the national university. Not only has
the quality of instruction there, as in the public schools,
plummeted in the last twenty years, post-grad job prospects
have taken a dive too, thanks to the GON's virtual bankruptcy
during the 1990s and the austerity measures that it produced.
The definition of "success" for Nigerien youth has changed to
reflect this new reality. A successful role model is no
longer the well educated, Francophone civil servant or
teacher; it is, rather, the person who can engage in commerce
or a trade and support their family. That is the position to
which Issoufou's students aspire. In light of the deep
problems facing public education and the economy's inability
to produce "knowledge sector" jobs, such aspirations are
realistic.


10. (C) Similar views were expressed in less detail in
Poloff's meetings with other religious and traditional
leaders. Zinder Alkali (Islamic judge) Sani Falalou and Imam
Souley, leaders of the region's Quadiriyya community, noted
the need for more modern agricultural training and
technology. Maradi-based traditional Province Chief Ali Zaki
stressed that students and young Nigeriens generally need
professional training. He noted that even high school and
university alumni were often unemployed and unable to earn a

NIAMEY 00000728 004.2 OF 004


living. The GON itself has acknowledged the need for a more
diverse and job-oriented madrassa curriculum. Modernization
of madrassa curricula is one of the priorities of the newly
created Ministry of Religious Affairs (reftel D),and the GON
is likely to approach donors and seek their support. NOTE:
UNICEF has already launched a pilot program to stress hygiene
and health education in some Nigerien madrassas. END NOTE
With Niger's government and traditional clerical
establishment ready to reform madrassa education, room exists
for meaningful USG intervention.

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COMMENT:...AND WHY WE SHOULD
GIVE IT TO THEM
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11. (C) At the end of our session, Poloff asked Imam Mounirou
Issoufou if he had any questions for us. He noted that
Izalists had tried to win him over by offering him cars and
materials, but he refused. He argued that the traditional
brotherhoods can offer young people a more intellectually and
spiritually compelling vision than the Izalists; one
consonant with their African heritage. They cannot, however,
match the Izalists' dollars and offers of material support.
He then asked Poloff why the USG doesn't help moderates to
fight against these extremist tendencies.


12. (C) The Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership
(TSCTP)'s mission is to lessen support for extremist
ideologies like Izala and to address some of the causes of
youth alienation that contribute to their allure. TSCTP
funded youth centers in Maradi and the Agadez region have had
some notable successes in the realm of job training and
economic integration for at-risk youth. (The local-hire
Maradi youth center manager noted in a conversation with
AIDoff that "if the United States didn't fund this '(youth
center)' the Izalists would have.") Youth centers are also a
way to meet madrassa students' and educators' needs, while
bolstering Islamic moderates' position and answering the
GON's anticipated call for donor support for religious
education reform. As TSCTP grows, the youth center concept
will expand to other Nigerien cities, and should focus on
madrassa students and instructors. NOTE: The NGO CARE, which
manages the Maradi youth center project, has drafted plans
for an expanded program in both Maradi and Zinder, with a
focus on madrassa students. CARE also has a one-year grant
from Danish Cooperation (DANIDA) for a youth center type
pilot activity in Zinder. Therefore, some relevant
infrastructure and experience are already in place. END NOTE


13. (C) If TSCTP projects involve traditional clergy and
chiefs, their madrassas and their parishioners -- not only as
implementation partners and beneficiaries but as program
designers, consultants and "public faces" -- they will help
these moderates to match the allure of Izala. Projects that
give moderate clergy and traditional chiefs a meaningful role
in planning and execution at every stage will also contribute
to local ownership, correctly identify local needs, and
reinforce Sufi authorities' role in cities where Izala has
won converts through largesse. This investment is also
scaleable. Full-scale youth centers on the Maradi / Agadez
model cost over $1 million each. Micro-scholarships for
madrassa students to attend Nigertec classes, or grants to
local professional associations to underwrite their training
of madrassa students are also options. No matter how
employed, TSCTP madrassa projects that partner with
traditional clergy and chiefs will enable us to meet Imam
Issoufou's call for development "deliverables" akin to those
Izala can offer by virtue of its Middle Eastern money. END
COMMENT

MINIMIZED CONSIDERED

ALLEN