IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL                                    

MCE Update

Salaamun Alaikum,

1. The quarterly meeting of the MCE team was held on 13 – 14 July 2012. The meeting was attended by all the team members as well as the President, Vice-President, Secretary-General and Hon Treasurer of the World Federation. In-depth discussions took place on the work being done by and the action plans from each stream. Some of the points are covered below.
 
2. The second Madrasah Assessors Training Programme took place in Daressalaam on 9-11 July 2012. A total of 22 assessors were trained.
Daressalaam   11
Nairobi            1
Bukoba           1
Mombasa        7
Arusha           2               
With the 5 assessors trained at the first programme in Birmingham, UK we now have 27 trained assessors in Africa.

3. The tabulation and analysis of current syllabi used globally has been completed. Besides identifying the gaps, the exercise has revealed that there are currently three approaches to teaching a syllabus.

o Conventional approach – Individual subjects (Aqaid, Fiqh, Akhlaq, Tarikh, Qur’an) are taught independently with minimum overlap.
o Hybrid approach – Content from various subjects relating to a particular topic is integrated to provide a more holistic appreciation of the topic.
o Integrated approach – Overarching themes that cut across core courses and foundational themes for individual courses that are linked to the Qur’an.
 
4. The learning resources team has created a detailed site map for a learning education portal. It covers items such as the home page (content, madrasah selection, login), newspage, external links, MCE information and contact details. The team has also been identifying and categorising Islamic e Learning websites.

5. A template has been developed for conducting training needs analyses for madrasah teachers. It is already being used in Daressalaam and Nairobi for assessing the training needs. It is intended to roll it out to other regions over the next few weeks.
 
6. A full-time InHouse Drupal and PHP Developer has been recruited by the World Federation. The main focus of the developer will be on developing and maintaining websites and backoffice systems based on the Drupal Platform and extending the existing CRM System. He will take projects from concept to completion and MCE will be his first project.

Assessment & Evaluation
In the last issue of the MCE update, reference was made to the preliminary four standards of assessment and evaluation.

We can have a look at the line of enquiry that needs to be followed in order to assess compliance with the first standard.

Teaching Tips

Beginning a lesson
A gloomy or disorganised start to a lesson nearly always results in misbehaviour or lack of interest. The first 5 minutes are thus very important.

DO
1. Begin your lesson with a dua.
2. Look confidently and pleasantly at the class.
3. Summon their attention before you begin teaching, waiting in silence if necessary.
4. Tell the class what the lesson will be about.
5. Introduce new work with enthusiasm. You may have taught it before but to them it is new.

DON'T
1. Arrive late.
2. Begin by criticizing individuals or the whole class.
3. Apologise for what you are about to do or teach.
4. Shout – a quieter voice may be effective.
5. Appear disorganised, even if you are.
6. Speak to individuals while expecting the others to do nothing.
7. Spend the first 5 to 10minutes preparing yourself without giving the class something specific to do.

My First Book of Faith 
 
The World Federation has launched its newest publication targeted towards children: ‘My First book of Faith’, written by Aamina Jivraj & Fatima Z. Karim and Illustrated by Sajida Jivraj.

The book is attractive, colourful and well-illustrated. The book focuses on the fundamentals of Islam and is an ideal teaching tool for parents to use with their children to help them learn about Islam.

‘My First book of Faith’ is helpful in the vital early years of a child’s growth and development. This book is a must-have for all parents who wish to educate their children on basic Islamic principles, and who wish to ensure their children have a reliable foundation of Islamic belief and practice.

Each copy is available for only £2.50 plus P & P. Copies are very limited, and extremely high demand is expected. Order your copy early to avoid disappointment.

To order a copy email islamiceducation@world-federation.org or call
+44 (0) 208 954 9881

Sharing a Best Practice 

The Ahlul Bayt Islamic Mission School (Zahra s.a. Academy of Pakistan) uses the idea of rewarding children with ‘Thawab Bills’ for performing obligatory and recommended acts from a prescribed list. For example, 40 thawab are awarded to children who are not yet baligh, for offering all obligatory salaat in a month; 50 thawab for offering obligatory salaat at exact time for 15 days in a month; 15 thawab for visiting the community graveyard (maximum of 3 per year). Thawab bills are in denominations of 1, 50 and 100 thawab.  

Bonus thawab bills are awarded for good deeds performed which are not covered in the list. The thawab bills can be deposited into The Thawab Bank in which each child can open an account. The thawab bills can be withdrawn and used for buying items from the Thawab Store or can be exchanged for cash.

Some of the outcomes from this concept are that children are motivated to follow religious practices regularly, they develop a sense of responsibility, they are encouraged to give sadaqa and they become creative by thinking of different ways of earning more thawab bills.  

Continuous Personal Development 
The World Federation is committed to providing Islamic education through effective in-depth courses and modules on Islamic subjects. These short modules are known as CPD (Continuous Personal Development) courses and are primarily aimed at Muballigheen (i.e. Ulama and Zakireen), and thereafter at Madrasah Teachers and personnel. The latest course is on Quranic Sciences. For further details please click here

Madrasah Details 
In order to have accurate data on each madrasah and to keep in touch with them, we have started to build a database of madrasah and thier teachers. A request for data completion was sent to all madrasah principals for completion. If you have not received the form, please notify us at mce@world-federation.org

Feedback 
We look forward to hearing from you with your feedback, suggestions and opinions on this important initiative of The World Federation. You can contact the Head of MCE by emailing him at mce@world-federation.org or call him on + 44 (0)121 246 3575

"Allah does not hold the people of ignorance responsible for not learning, until He has held the people of knowledge responsible for not teaching"Imam Ali (AS).