COMMENT Islamic schools have always been part and parcel of the Malay-Muslim community, even long before the British came to shores of Malaya. The traditional Islamic schools are known as ‘pondok' and were the only mode of knowledge transmission existed before mass education was introduced by the British.

‘Pondok' education, which still exists until today, revolves around a teacher, who attracts students by the dint of his reputation (this is an exclusively male domain). Its educational objective is primarily to inculcate students with the values needed in becoming a good Muslim, with nary an emphasis on real world practical knowledge.

In the 1920s, many Malay graduates from the Middle East, particularly Al-Azhar University in Cairo, came back imbued with reformist ideals to seriously revamp the pre-existing Islamic education...