The Presidency of Religious Affairs according to teachers' opinions 2021 evaluation of the Hafız Education Program

Hafizah education and training started from the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and has continued until today. Hafizah, which was not an independent branch of science during the Prophet's time, is considered to have started when the Prophet learned the verses from Gabriel and taught them to his companions by reading them as he learned them. The institution of hafizah, which has been given great importance throughout history, has become systematized and institutionalized over time. Madrasahs, dar al-kurrās and dar al-huffās established for the teaching and memorization of the Qur'an are indicators of institutionalization. In the Republican Era, which is remembered as a painful period in terms of religion and religious education, hafizah continued to exist, albeit slowly, despite some difficulties it faced, especially during the Single Party Regime. Today, although hafizah is officially given in schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education, it is mostly carried out in Qur'an courses affiliated to the Presidency of Religious Affairs with education programs prepared with a scientific approach. Education programs are indispensable in the conduct of educational activities. The content of the training programs and the targeted outcomes must be appropriate and parallel to each other. The Hafız Education Program dated 2010 was taken as a basis in Qur'an courses affiliated to the Presidency of Religious Affairs until 2021. However, over time, there has been a need to update the program in order to respond to developing and changing conditions. For this purpose, DİB updated the program in 2021. When we look at the studies on hafizah education, no study on the updated program dated 2021 was found and therefore this issue was deemed worthy of study. The study is important in this respect. In this study, qualitative research model was adopted as the model and case study method was adopted as the method. The study group of the research consists of Qur'an Course instructors working in hafiz courses in Elazığ Center and Hafiz Follow-up Commission members. The study group was determined through purposive sampling. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher after obtaining Ethics Committee approval and necessary institutional permissions. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data.