State the contributions made by the Abbasids towards the development of Education.

KCSE IRE Paper 2 2012 Question 5(a) with Answers.

(a) State the contributions made by the Abbasids towards the development of Education. (8 marks)

Contributions made by the Abbasids towards the development of Education.

1. The Abbasics encouraged Education by establishing madrassas, schools,colleges and other institutions of learning in the empire, they ensured that a library was attached to every mosque where they learn Quran and other elements of religion.
2. They established schools in private houses where the rich had private tutors in their houses. .
3. Education system was well organized into lower Ievel/primary where pupils learnt how to read the Quran, middle level/secondary where students learnt meaning and interpretation of Quran, Hadith, literature, fiqh and logic, advance level/college where students learnt Maths, Geography, Philosophy, Geometry and Music.
4. Khalifa Maarnun established Bait-ul-Hikma (House of Wisdom) which was an important learning centre.
5. Works of scholars such as Plato, Aristotle and Galileo were translated into Arabic.
6. Islamic fiqh developed based on the Quran and Hadith, the four schools of thought evolved during this time.
7. Encouraged and financed research and writing of books in logic, astronomy, maths, chemistry, history and literature.
8. Improved art of creative writing and books were availed to the public at affordable prices.
9. Improved science of medicine and surgery e.g. Ali Tbn Rabaan wrote the book “paradise of medicine” which contributed a lot in the field of medicine, there were also great physicians such as Al-majlus and Ibn Sina.
10. Abbasids encouraged women to seek for knowledge.
11. Abbasids era produced great philosophies such as Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina.
12. Improvement in the field of mathematics e.g. Musa Ibn Khawarizin compiled the first book of algebra.
13. Khalifa Maamun encouraged astronomy by constructing two observatories.
14. Produced famous geographers at the time e.g. Al-Yakuq wrote a book Kitab-al-Buldan the book of the country which contained information on different countries, physical features and economic background.
15. Sahihul Sitta was compiled during the Abbasid era.
16. Level of literacy was improved.

(8x1 =8marks)

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