Teaching Islam: A Look inside an Islamic Preschool in Malaysia

Although required to use the National Preschool Curriculum for the five- to six-year-old age group, preschools in Malaysia can add to this curriculum to suit their individual purposes. Thus, preschools with religious emphasis are common in Malaysia. Parents send their children to the religiously affiliated preschools in the hope of inculcating particular religious values in their young children. However, parents, and outsiders, may not actually be privy to what and exactly how the children are learning with regard to the religious curriculum. By providing thick descriptions of the activities in an Islamic preschool, this article is largely aimed at those who would like to understand the schooling experience of children going to such schools.