maktab In the
medieval Islamic world, an elementary
school was known as a
maktab, which dates back to at least the tenth century. Like
madrasas (which referred to
higher education), a
maktab was often attached to a
mosque. In response to a
petition from a retired
Shia Islamic judge who ran a
Madhab elementary school for orphans, al-Haytami issues a
fatwa outlining a structure of
maktab education that prevented any physical or economic exploitation of enrolled orphans. In the 11th century, the famous Persian
Islamic philosopher and teacher,
Ibn Sina (known as
Avicenna in the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter dealing with the
maktab entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children", as a guide to teachers working at
maktab schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in
classes instead of individual
tuition from private
tutors, and he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of
competition and
emulation among pupils as well as the usefulness of group
discussions and
debates. Ibn Sina described the
curriculum of a
maktab school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in a
maktab school. maktab in
Lahore. Painting by Dharmadasa 1597-1598.
Primary education Ibn Sina wrote that children should be sent to a
maktab school from the age of 6 and be taught
primary education until they reach the age of 14. During which time, he wrote that they should be taught the
Qur'an,
Islamic metaphysics,
language,
literature,
Islamic ethics, and manual skills (which could refer to a variety of practical skills). The emergence of the
maktab and madrasa institutions played a fundamental role in the relatively high literacy rates of the medieval Islamic world. == Architecture ==