Page 775 - Proceedings Collega2023

Introduction

"Tadika" are institutions in the Islamic community where learning covers philosophy, knowledge,
faith, and culture in Islam by describing, memorizing, and practicing. Imams and communities of Patani
Malay people established tadika, where their children must learn and practice being upstanding
Muslims. Accordingly, Tadika are places to refine the Muslim mind, preserve the identity of Patani Malay
people, and encourage peace in society. (Wae-u-seng et al., 2011, abstract)

Imams and the communities managed tadika until 1997; Tadika were under the Department of
Religious Affairs, Ministry of Education. Later, from 2004 - 2016, under the Department of Provincial
Administration, the Ministry of Interior. Until 2016 - currently under the Office of the Private Education
Commission (OPEC), The Ministry of Education has supported budgets, teachers, and standard Islam
curriculums for tadika (Makha, 2018). After tadika came under government organization, they changed.

However, a group of Patani Malay community researchers comprising community leaders, Imams,
directors of tadika, teachers, local scholars, and community members from Ban Benaepeenae and Ban
Benaebadae communities in Yarang District, Pattani Province, are seeking to preserve their identity,
culture, and local wisdom for their children. They discussed with each other and tried to solve the
problems. In their meeting in 2019, they raised the issues about tadika's problems together. They found
that the problems surrounding tadika were caused by three issues (Kareng et al., 2021, p2-3).

Management by government organization

The advantages of management of tadika with government support include budgets, teachers,
and standard Islamic curriculums. Meanwhile, the disadvantages are the decreasing role of management
by communities, and the need for communities to be aware of this ownership of tadika. In addition, the
children cannot connect with their inherited identity, culture, and local wisdom because teachers use the
standard Islamic curriculums from Malaysia that are inconsistent with the local context in Thailand. The
risk is that their unique identity, language, and local wisdom will soon be lost.

Tadika teachers
For the most part, teachers in tadika are volunteers who did not graduate from recognized faculty
of education. Currently, they teach students to memorize, which causes the students to lose interest.
Furthermore, teachers can only teach short terms, which means they cannot develop their skills and earn
a sufficient income. They need new technology to teach their students.

Description of languages
Generally, Muslim children can listen and speak Patani Malay (mother language). Children
studying in tadika must learn reading and writing in Jawi and Rumi from Malaysia. These make the children
confused in Patani Malay language. Moreover, the content in their books depicts the culture and context
of Malaysia, so the Thai students are unable to learn from their local environment. This is why they score
poorly in the Islamic National Education Test (I-NET). According to the research result of Baka et al. (2016),
the I-NET average scores from 2010 to 2012 were below 50% of the students in five provinces in southern
Thailand (M = 41.60%, 38.06%, 42.44%).

These issues show the political, cultural, and educational inequality caused by poor state control
that results in decreasing participation by communities. In addition, the students must learn according to
the curriculum prescribed by the state, and therefore they have limited access to learning their mother

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