The Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA) has published guidelines to standardise the Quran curriculum in higher education centres.
The MQA stated that the main purpose of the guidelines is to standardise the Quran curriculum and duration across all higher education centres. The guidelines also aim to maintain standards at higher education centres and address the concerns of educators, students, and government institutions. It noted that if the curriculum is different at various centres which have an adverse impact on students who transfer and teachers, as they have an additional burden to teach the lessons that transferred students have not studied, delaying the completion of the course.
The MQA stated that it will now accredit higher education programmes in accordance with the standards set out in the guidelines, called the Minimum Standards for Quranic Education Programmes. With the change, qualifications in the field of Quranic teaching will be considered as reciter and recitation programmes, as well as Quran teaching programmes and Imam programmes. In addition, the guidelines standardise co-modules, syllabus of co-modules, and duration of the course, credit, teacher requirements, and entry requirements for Quran curriculums.
Additionally, the guidelines detail the co-modules to be included in bachelor's degree qualification programmes from certificate level 1 onwards and the required curricula in the co-modules. MQA stated that the new standards will solve the issues that currently emerge due to different higher education centres completing their Quran courses at different durations.