Zainabiya School,  Alipur

                                                                                
A Dawn for Imaginative and Far Reaching Decisions

A message from the ZCSS Chairman,  Mohamed Visram

Although there have been many occasions in the last three years that have been memorable for the Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme, for example when the children of ZCSS managed to score the highest marks in their respective states, the one period that will forever be etched in my memory is that very dark day in March when Mulla Saheb passed away suddenly. At that time, on top of the very personal grief and the very public mourning of the community at large, we in ZCSS were concerned about the future of the nearly twelve thousand students of Zainabiya who were so close to Mulla Saheb’s heart. Mulla himself always used to say that if the niyyat was right then the work of Imam will always carry on, as the Imam himself takes over when there is none else to carry it forward. It was this faith that Mulla Saheb had, that gave us the will and the determination to carry on. As it transpired Marhum was right. The support we have received from the community has been something that I personally will always be proud of. There has not been a day since the 21st March 2000 that we have not remembered Mulla Saheb and equally there has not been a day since then, that we have not received some form of assistance from the community, be it in the form of moral support or monetary support. For this I shall always be grateful to this community of which I am very fortunate to be a member of.

The number of students being sponsored keep increasing every year as always, but what is more rewarding is that the number of undergraduates keeps increasing as well. This means that the quality of education and the determination of students is increasing as well. This year, with the grace of Allah (s.w.t.), there are 449 higher education students on the files of ZCSS, of which 115 have already qualified.  Alhamdulillah.
 
Compared to other periods, relatively few Capital Projects have been undertaken under ZCSS in the last three years. The reason for this has been - firstly to consolidate and complete the projects that were already under way and secondly to make sure that there were enough in the funds to make sure that those students, who have worked extremely hard to make it to the Universities are supported through their undergraduate years. Again, Alhamdulillah, this has been achieved and all the deserving students have been sponsored by the scheme and none has been refused sponsorship. This fact in itself is something for the community to be proud of.  Some of the Capital Projects that have been undertaken in this period are as follows:

• Construction of a girls school in the Multan area of Pakistan and upgrading the existing school for boys with furniture and equipment.
• Construction of teachers’ quarters in Alipur and the start of extensions to these subsequently.
• Fencing and securing of the school compound of the Alipur School.
  d) Completion of a school in Bidar for the Khana Badosh shia population and the handing over of this building to the local population to administer.
• Completion of the extensions in both the Alipur school and the Avalkonda school. In Avalkonda especially, the school has brought dramatic progress in the opportunities available to the students. These students who were at one time debt slaves are now beginning to request for undergraduate sponsorships.

I feel I ought  to express my personal gratitude to the ZCSS Administrator, Zainabbai Kassam and all in the ZCSS team for their very loyal and untiring support. ZCSS has been very lucky in having young intellectual volunteers who have sacrificed their own personal time to make the scheme as efficient as it is today. In our meetings there is an atmosphere of humour and comradeship. Mulla Saheb himself used to enjoy attending meetings of ZCSS as he used to feel that in this forum new and revolutionary ideas were floated and many were put into practice with very successful results. May Allah (s.w.t.) accept the efforts of these youngsters and give them even more zeal to work for the community,  Aameen.
 
Vision for the Future of the Scheme has got to be the continuing support in education of the poor members of our community all over the world. The greatest challenge facing the Scheme is to carry on taking on new students on the Scheme as well as at the same time supporting the meritorious students through the universities. Whilst the number of sponsored students and the cost of education has spiralled over the past years, the cost to the sponsor parent has not been increased since 1984.  As a result, the real equity of the scheme is much less that what it was fourteen years ago.

Demand and expectation for Higher Education is ever increasing especially amongst the girls and yet the cultural parameters in many parts of the world either form a barrier for the girls to travel to cities where the universities are sited or there just are no facilities for our girls to stay in the cities where they can be guided and looked after. This problem needs to be looked at. Of all the achievements of the Scheme, the one that has had the most success is: the construction of our own schools. This programme needs to be restarted, as the regeneration of whole communities due to our own schools has been astounding.

The challenge for the new administration now would be on the one hand, to keep the very real love the community has for the Scheme alive and on the other hand to raise funds to enable an ambitious program of building more schools.

It is in this respect I feel the new Office Bearers will have to be courageous enough to give ZCSS the space to evolve and to allow this scheme (that the community at large has taken to its heart), to become a memorable legacy that will benefit children of our community for decades to come.

Please recite a Sura-e-Fateha for Marhum Mulla Asghar Saheb and for all our marhumeen.

Students

The aim of ZCSS is to ensure that secular education is made available to all Shia Ithna Asheri boys and girls. Neeedy parents are encouraged to send their children to any local school of their choice, with ZCSS providing the necessary funds for school fees, tuition fees, books, uniforms and transportation.

At present a total of 11,165 boys and girls are studying under Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme.

The Sadat students are being supported by the Sehme Sadat portion of the World Federation. Initially, donors are informed of their Sehme Sadat contribution being used to educate poor Sadat children and details of the children are sent to them. Subsequently, no more reminders for further funds or reports are sent to these donors. The education of the children continues to be monitored by the Secretariat and financed by Sehme Sadat Fund.  The Non Sadat students are sponsored either under the one to one scheme or by one-off generous donations received by ZCSS

115 Graduates as at August 2000

334 Undergraduates as at August 2000

Breakdown of ZCSS children as at August 2000

Financial Report

During this term once again thanks to the communities world wide Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme (ZCSS) has managed to collect just over £587,000. However, the expenditure of £640,000 detailed below, has exceeded the receipts leaving a deficit of £53,000 for this term. This over spend has been facilitated by the funds collected previously specifically for this purpose.  This leaves a prepaid balance of approximately £100,000 at the end of 1999.

With the ever increasing numbers of students entering higher education the burden on the ZCSS is ever increasing.  As a consequence the funds paid in advance has to be strictly maintained for this sole purpose to enable ZCSS to fulfil its commitment to the sponsors of educating the children in need.

Trip to India – February 2000

“Don’t be ashamed to give a little, because the people you are giving to have even less”   
Imam Ali (a.s.)

The truth of this saying did not really hit us until we went to India on behalf of Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme (ZCSS) and saw for ourselves how deprived some of the members of our community were, and how far the little we collect in the Western Countries in sponsorship money goes in places like Gujarat and Karnataka in India.

On the instigation of Marhum Mulla Asghar Saheb, four members of the ZCSS team visited India. Although Zeeshan Kanji and Mohamed Visram had visited India in 1994, we were all shocked to see that the poverty and deprivation of our Shia brothers had not diminished. Accompanying us was Arif Govani, who is a computer consultant and Mohammed Shams Somji, who has been a volunteer in ZCSS for the past 5 years. Our itinerary included a visit to Gujarat for three days and a visit to Bangalore for three days.

One of the main purpose of visiting Gujarat was to make a profile of a typical ZCSS child. Over the years, concerns have been raised about the number of students dropping out, the standard of education, and the grades attained by our Zainabiya children at school.

The first task was to visit the dwellings a typical ZCSS child came from. Nothing had prepared us for the shock……
 

A typical dwelling of a ZCCS child

A typical house for a ZCSS child is no more than a shack where sometimes a family of 8 to 10 members sleep in one room. More often than not, there is no electricity, clean water or sanitation.

The lucky families have been housed in 2 bedroom flats recently constructed by the World Federation.
 

Even in the flats, although the amenities are much better than the shacks, often whole families reside in 2 rooms. An area for school work or other work is unavailable and the time to study at home is virtually impossible.  Hence Coaching Classes are run as shown below.

The transport to take the children to school is also very basic. The young children often go by "Auto Rickshaw", sometimes between 15-20 children cramped in one "rickshaw".
 
 

To help the children with their homework, classes are organised in the evenings paid for by the ZCSS. Here children not only get tuition and help with their school homework, but Dinyat and Qur’an classes also provided.
 

Tuition classes in Bharatnagar

The young children are sent home at 8 pm, but the older children who usually go home by rickshaw or walk home stay till 10 pm.

Special teachers are employed by the ZCSS to coach the older children. Few older ZCSS students also help out with homework as well as coaching the younger children.

Whilst in Bhavangar we had the opportunity of meeting Zainabiya Graduates. The standard of intelligence made us proud of these youths.. In fact, to us it seemed like nothing short of a miracle, that so many children had done so well considering the conditions the children have been brought up in.

Mr. Sarani – IT underrgraduate Sohail Abbas was one of two to get an MCA in Bhavnagar from all Gujarat Applicants

Whilst we were there, we had the opportunity of addressing the young graduates of Zainabiya. Arif with his computer skills had the students enthralled, whilst Zeeshan was talking about the merits of accountancy. 

One of the main problems we have with the ZCSS students in Gujarat especially, is that they tend to drop out of school in large numbers at the age of 13 and 14.  The reason for this is usually due to pressures from the parents of the students to go to work and earn a living. To stop the tide of young intelligent students missing out on the opportunity of further education we had the chance of meeting the parents of some of the students in the Mosque. We were pleasantly surprised by the large turnout. In the meeting we were able to impress upon the fathers on the merits of higher education. Looking at Zeeshan and Arif who are both relatively recent graduates, I am sure many parents were convinced on the advantages of letting their children study to the level of higher education. We are continuously monitoring to see if the number of dropouts have been reduced since our visit.

Lastly, in Gujarat we were extremely impressed with the work carried out by the Husaini Education & Welfare Society and The Council of Gujarat. In our opinion, astronomical effort is made to recruit parents and students for ZCSS. In addition, monitoring of the dispatched funds is carried out with due sensitivity and accuracy. For this selfless work, the least we could do was to thank them and pray to Allah (SWT) to reward them for their efforts.  Aameen.

Zainabiya in Karnataka

Assembly in Alipur School
The school in Alipur is one of the first schools that was built by ZCSS. This was the first time that we had the opportunity of visiting this school since it had opened. Therefore, we were anxious to see for ourselves the effect this school has had on the poor community of Alipur.

Meeting with Imamia Education and Welfare Trust and the Teachers

We also had the opportunity of examining a science exhibition that the students had organised.  Again to our amazement, the depth of the knowledge from chemistry to satellite dishes and from human biology to atomic science was very high.  We had an opportunity of questioning the students about the exhibits and I am almost embarrassed to admit that some of the students were actually teaching us.

On a lighter side the young children had organised a fancy dress for us. The  boy who was dressed as Mahatma Ghandhi had all of us in fits of laughter.

We had the opportunity of observing the students while in their classes.  Again I have to say that in spite of them being under pressure because of our presence, the questions posed and the answers given, and the confidence and the knowledge of these children displayed was indeed impressive.

Arif, Shams and Zeeshan were looking forward to talking to the children in a relaxed environment. Therefore, during the lunch break they went to the school grounds to play football with the boys.

In the afternoon, we were invited to a presentation, and were extremely pleased to give prizes to students who had achieved top marks not only in their school but also in their region.

We were keen to talk to the students in the high school on their own without the teachers and the head master.  We have to say that the intelligence and foresight these youths of 14/15 had in place like Alipur was refreshing.

We were sad to leave the school in the evening.  To sum it in one sentence, the establishment of the school in Alipur has not only benefited the children but also the whole community.

The following day we had made an appointment with Microsoft in Banagalore.  After listening to our cause, Microsoft have agreed to look at our graduates favourably for future employment as well as to consider future donations of computers to our schools.  This meeting was much more fruitful than we had expected.

Whilst in Banagalore we had the opportunity to talk to the higher education students being sponsored by ZCSS at present.  We were pleasantly surprised to meet from architect students to medicine students, from pharmacy students to accountancy students etc.  It was heart rendering for us to be able to meet a student who has gone through the ZCSS system and has now graduated as a doctor and is in the process of doing his masters degree…Dr. Intezahr Mahdi

We all came away from India with mixed emotions, some really sad and some very happy.  One thing we all came back with is a feeling of achievement and great deal more of the understanding of how ZCSS changes lives and takes children from darkness to light…..
 

Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme is able to function world wide because of the dedication of volunteers and active co-operation of Jamats.

If you would like to be the Zainabiya Representative in your Jamat, please ask your Jamat to nominate you.  Your job will be to know the sponsorship scheme very well so as to be able to recruit more sponsors and be able to answer their queries.

Below is a list of present ZCSS Representatives.  Some have been working since inception in 1981.  Ideally the Representatives should be semi permanent.

Volunteers administering ZCSS at the Secretariat

His Heart was in Education

Addresses

Kindly address all mail to the respective addresses given below

Islamic Education Board (IEB)
All mail regarding Tableeghy Activities, Bosnia Desk, Books, Publications and Audio/Video cassettes should be addressed to:

Islamic Education Board
Dar al Tableegh
Jackets Lane, Harefield
Middlesex UB9 6PZ
United Kingdom

Phone:  01923 823606
Fax:  01923 823132
e-mail: IEB@world-federation.org

Careers, Education and Training Advisory Board (CETAB)                                           
All mail regarding Careers, Education
and Training should be addressed to:

CETAB
106/108 Anderton Park Road
Moseley
Birmingham B13 9DS
United Kingdom

Phone:  0121 449 2788
Fax:  0121 449 5988
e-mail:  CETAB@world-federation.org

Medical Advisory Board (MAB)
All mail pertaining to Medical Cases, Medical Studies and Haj Medical Mission should be addressed to:

Medical Advisory Board
106/108 Anderton Park Road
Moseley
Birmingham B13 9DS
United Kingdom

Phone:  0121 449 2788
Fax:  0121 449 5988
e-mail:  MAB@world-federation.org

Secretariat; ZCSS
All Remittances, and other mail including those for ZCSS to be addressed to:

The World Federation of KSIMC
Islamic Centre, Wood Lane
Stanmore
Middlesex HA7 4LQ
United Kingdom

Phone:  020 8954 9881
Fax:  020 8954 9034
e-mail:  secretariat@world-federation.org
           ZCSS@world-federation.org

Web Homepage - You may get information about the World Federation and all member Jamats from Web Homepage:   

Jamats may send information for inclusion on the World Federation home page
By e-mail to:  webmaster@world-federation.org
Or send a disc to the Secretariat at the address given above.