National Education Systems

The history of education in the Middle East is diverse in pedagogical and philosophical approaches, intellectual contributions, and institutions. The politics of power have played a key role in shaping education throughout the region. In the medieval period, wealthy individuals financially endowed schools based on their Islamic law affiliations. In the Ottoman era, the sultans centralized schools to disseminate a common identity across the empire. Colonial powers in the modern era used education to serve their own ends. The contemporary era has witnessed the development of state-sponsored schools to support nation-building. Since the 1970s, education has been at the heart of four critical social issues in the Middle East: neoliberalism, dictatorship, war, and patriarchy.