Muis shares updates on aLIVE, IEF

Esa Masood, Deputy Chief Executive, Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), spoke at the Parenting Seminar and Islamic Education Fund (IEF) Disbursement Ceremony about support for Islamic learning.

He disclosed that more than 21,000 youths are attending the mosque madrasah programme aLIVE, taught by 800 trained asatizahs.

"Going forward, Muis will continue to make efforts to improve the aLIVE programme, including updating the books and content to ensure that it addresses contemporary issues, and provides relevant guidance, particularly, for our young in their daily lives. We will also continue to support the asatizah who are teaching the programme through various trainings and workshops," he said.

Esa also shared that Muis will be disbursing S$1.3 million through IEF, helping 4,091 students.

"Together with this year’s disbursement, we have disbursed a total of S$8.19 million under IEF over the last 14 years, to over 25,000 beneficiaries," he said.

Muis shares PSLE figures, Islamic education fund growth

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) has announced on its Facebook page that out of 264 Singaporean religious school (madrasah) students who sat for the primary school leaving examination (PSLE) this year, 98.5% have been assessed suitable to proceed to secondary school. This in an increase of 0.3% from last year.

Madrasahs that offered PSLE this year attained scores higher than the PSLE benchmark set by Ministry of Education, Muis said.

Muis also shared earlier in the month that 505 students have benefitted from the Islamic Education Fund (IEF) this year as a result of enhancements to the scheme. The IEF was introduced in 2004 to ensure that Islamic education (IE) classes at mosque-based madrasahs remain affordable.

In total, about 4,100 students will benefit from the S$1.4 million to be disbursed this year. This amount is 10% higher than in the preceding year and is the largest amount disbursed thus far, made possible by zakat contributions from the Singapore Muslim community.

Five principals who are coordinating the 38 aLIVE centres were given approval letters for disbursement by Singapore Mufti Dr Fatris Bakaram at a IEF disbursement ceremony. Dr Fatris also presented the inaugural Virtuous Student Award to 62 students during the same ceremony. Award winners have displayed exemplary attributes and portrayed excellence towards in the pursuit of Islamic knowledge.

University of Pennsylvania senior wins Malaysian Rhodes Scholarship

Source: University of Pennsylvania,
Eric Sucar. Adnan Zikri.

Adnan Zikri Jaafar, a University of Pennsylvania senior from Malaysia, has been awarded a Malaysian Rhodes Scholarship for graduate study at the University of Oxford. The 2017 awards bring the number of Penn Rhodes Scholars to 26.

“All of us at Penn are enormously proud of Chris and Zikri,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann, commenting on Adnan's scholarship and that of US senior Christopher D’Urso. “Our newest Rhodes scholars share a passion for community engagement, human rights and social justice. Their work embodies the finest attributes of Penn scholars who are working to make a profound difference in the world."

Zikri’s undergraduate research has focused on social-impact bonds. He also has done volunteer work with refugees and has been an ambassador for Penn’s Giving What We Can. Chris and Zikri are extraordinarily talented, engaged and committed individuals who are deeply deserving of this preeminent recognition.”

Adnan is enrolled in the Huntsman Program in International Studies in Business offered through Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences and Wharton School. He is majoring in finance, statistics and international studies, with a minor in mathematics, economics and philosophy. At Penn he has served as a Fox Research and Service Fellow and a Wharton Research Scholar.

Earlier this year, he conducted research on social-impact bonds to assess alternative approaches to improving the impact of zakat distribution in Malaysia. He volunteers for the PA Refugee Task Force in Philadelphia in the US and at Syrian refugee schools in Irbid, Jordan, and is also an ambassador for Penn’s Giving What We Can.

At Oxford, Adnan will pursue a master’s degree in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation, along with a master’s in financial economics.

Register at Al-Ahdaf Academy for madrasah tuition

Al-Ahdaf Academy has opened 2017 registration for madrasah* tuition, conversational Arabic and preparatory courses for kindergarten.


Classes are either held in Paya Lebar or in Tampines. The Paya Lebar location is near Paya Lebar MRT station, at the Arab Association (Al-Wehdah), 11, Lorong 37, Geylang Road, Singapore 387908. The Tampines venue is at #07-06 Income @ Tampines Junction, 300 Tampines Avenue 5,
Singapore 529653.

The Madrasah Tuition Program caters to full-time Singapore madrasah students from primary up to secondary level. It aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for their exams in Arabic and Islamic subjects.

There is a Weekday Tuition Program from Monday to Thursday at Paya Lebar. Students can choose from a twice weekly or weekly tuition programme.

A Week-end Tuition Program is held once a week on Saturdays or Sundays at Tampines, either at 9.30am to 11.30am or at 11.30am to 1.30pm.

A minimum of four students are required to start a twice weekly class. Lower primary students pay a monthly fee of S$180 each; upper primary students pay S$190 and secondary students pay S$200.
The weekly class requires at least two students. Lower primary students pay S$150 each a month; upper primary students pay S$160 and secondary students pay S$180.

The Kindergarten Students Preparatory For Primary 1 Madrasah course provides sufficient preparation in the Arabic language for K1 and K2 students to sit for the madrasah’s primary one entry test. K1 and K2 refer to the two years of kindergarten just before primary school, and would correspond to students of four to five years old, and five to six years old respectively.

This course is available all year round. K2 classes are held every Wednesday at the Paya Lebar venue from 3.45pm to 5.45pm. There are currently some vacancies.

A weekly K1 class at Paya Lebar will be beginning soon, with the days and times to be shared later. New once-a-week K1 and K2 classes are beginning in March at the Tampines venue.
Three or more students are required to start a class, at S$130 per month per student. Materials will be provided.

A Conversational Arabic course for secondary madrasah students is also available at Tampines on Sundays from 2.30pm to 4.30pm. The course is designed to enable students to converse in Arabic with basic vocabulary in three months (14 lessons). The course is tailored to help individual students on pronunciation, memorisation and general progress.

At least 10 students are required to form a class. The course costs S$80 a month for three months, and the books cost S$25.

There is a one-time registration fee of S$20 that is waived for those who register for any course by 11 March 2017.

Interested?

Register. Registrations will be confirmed via email, SMS or WhatsApp.

*An Islamic religious school is termed a madrasah in Singapore. There are six full-time madrasahs in Singapore:

1. Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah
2. Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah
3. Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah 
4. Madrasah Al-Maarif Al-Islamiah (this is a girls-only school)
5. Madrasah Alsagoff Al-Arabiah (this is a girls-only school)
6. Madrasah Wak Tanjong Al-Islamiah

Worldreader to expand Read to Kids Program to serve Syrian and host communities in Jordan

Worldreader, a global non-profit that believes everyone can be a reader, plans to expand its Read to Kids Program to serve Syrian refugee and host communities in Jordan. The programme supports parents and caregivers to become their children's first teachers, enabling and encouraging them to read to their young children using their mobile phones.

The Read to Kids mobile reading programme in India cultivated more than 60,000 readers over nine months through support from Pearson. Worldreader is now committing to expanding into Jordan to help Syrian and Jordanian children become lifelong readers. The organisation will work with Arabic publishers and partners to digitise and disseminate high-quality Arabic children's reading books to 50,000 households across the country. The programme will also work with educators and publishers to curate a psychosocial collection of books and activities that encourages stories and reading as a safe way to explore emotions and generate healing.

"Encouraging parents to get engaged in their children's learning through reading books has been outlined as a key priority of Jordan in 2016. The research is clear on the importance of reading for brain development and long-term success in children's lives. We are pleased to work with Worldreader be able to offer this innovative programme to the people of Jordan as well as the Syrian nationals who have sought refuge within our country," said HE Dr Omar Razzaz, Jordan's Minister of Education.

Parents and caregivers will be able to access this programme from an Internet browser on their mobile phone or by downloading the Read to Kids app from the Google Play Store. The books are curated to match children's interests and developmental readiness from birth through age 12.

Worldreader plans to launch Read to Kids Jordan in late 2017. The programme will be made possible through a US$1 million grant from private philanthropic organisation Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), with additional support from Jordanian social and education entities. The organisation is seeking additional funding and support from organisations wishing to help promote reading and education to refugees in Jordan.

"Worldreader is an exemplary organisation providing critical literary resources to enhance children's learning and educational development," said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the SNF. "SNF is proud to partner with Worldreader on Read to Kids Jordan, a critical initiative that aims to support early literacy programmes for 50,000 Syrian and Jordanian children, and as a foundation to continue to respond to the devastating crisis and its impact on refugee and host-community children."

"At a time when world leaders are closing their doors to refugees, conflict-affected families need every tool to ensure bright futures for their children," said David Risher, CEO and Co-founder of Worldreader. "We have seen firsthand the impact that digital reading has on children and families in India and we are proud to bring this same opportunity to all children in Jordan—including those who have been affected by the worst humanitarian crisis of our time—through the Read to Kids programme. Every child should be able to benefit from the magic of reading."

Funds sought to accommodate 200 special-needs students in Islamic classes this year

Source: MIJ crowdfunding page. Kinaesthetic learning in action.

Singapore-based My Islamic Journey (MIJ) Education Hub, established in 2011, is running a crowdfunding campaign to pay for better facilities and services around Islamic education for special needs children and adults.

The facility offers weekly Islamic classes conducted by qualified asatizahs who are also certified in early-childhood and special-needs education. The special-needs students are individuals aged 5 to 25 who may be on the autism spectrum or have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, Down's syndrome or global developmental delays (GDD). The classes focus on
unambiguous, explicit teaching strategies, individual learning strengths as well as preferred learning styles.

"We believe that all students can learn.. just perhaps not on the same day or the same way," runs a statement on the MIJ website.

MIJ has more than 200 students enrolled this year for seerah, fiqh (فقه) - the theory of Islamic law, tauheed (توحيد) - the concept of monotheism - and Quran memorisation classes, but MIJ's current premises is too small for an enrolment of this size. Rather than turn anyone away, MIJ is now seeking funds for a bigger space that will be renovated to accommodate their students' learning challenges.

It needs about US$105,000 to fully expand the school but will work with whatever amount is raised. MIJ already relies on donations to subsidise lessons for students from low-income or working-class families. Only 27 of MIJ's 200 students are currently paying the full fees.

The proposed space is to have therapy and gym rooms to help special-needs students who are kinaesthetic learners*. The funds will also help the school buy equipment and teaching aids, with the money budgeted as follows:

US$21,000: therapy and gym rooms
US$21,000: teaching materials, audio-visual aids, computers and other teaching aids
US$49,000: renovations
US$14,000: office/school equipment

Programmes offered by MIJ include Tafsir & Hadith for Ladies, Quranic Tahsin for Ladies, Basic Quranic Literacy for Ladies, Fiqh & Solat for Youths and Young Muslims, Arabic tuition for madrasah students and a Muslim toddlers’ club.

The founders of MIJ, Faraliza Zainal and Ali Dawood, are themselves parents of a special needs teen. Their son is autistic and is now learning to call the adhan (أَذَان‎‎, the call to prayer before salah). He communicates and performs his salah (صلاة, the five obligatory daily prayers) diligently.

Interested?

MIJ is at 61, Ubi Ave 2, AML Building, #08-06 Singapore 408898

Donate to MIJ by end-February 2017 - the goal stated on the crowd-funding page is US$40,000, short of the budgeted amount.

*A kinaesthetic learner is one who can register and process information the most via physical movement.

KYP, Universitas Islam Riau hold joint International Colloquium on Islamic studies and social science

Source: KYP. KYP MD Dato’ Norhishamuddin Bin Yaacob and Dr Hafizan Mat Som, VP of Industrial Relations & Research Development as well as Dr Azhar Jaafar, Deputy VP of Academic with representatives from Universitas Islam Riau.

Kolej Yayasan Pahang (KYP) in Malaysia has received a visit from one of its memorandum of undersanding (MoU) partners from Indonesia, Universitas Islam Riau.

The objectives of the MOU between KYP and Universitas Islam Riau are to collaborate, exchange, and share information in terms of knowledge, skills, research, paper publication, community service, student activities and other aspects that could benefit both parties.

In conjunction with the visit in early January and in alignment with the goals of the MoU, an International Mini Colloquium on Islamic Studies & Social Science was conducted at the Yayasan Pahang Complex, featuring two presenters each from KYP and from Indonesia. Muhammad Azizur Rahman Bin Ramli and Nurul Shahida Ishak represented KYP, while Dr Hamzah and Miftah Sharif spoke for Universitas Islam Riau.

“This mini colloquium is a great start for our partnership. Hopefully we will be able to enhance the quality of teaching and learning especially in the field of Islamic studies,” said Dato’ Norhishamuddin Bin Yaacob, KYP MD.

INCEIF opens up part two of takaful MOOC

INCEIF has made part two of its Takaful massive open online course (MOOC) available.

Part 2 is about shari'ah principles and the practices underlying takaful, enabling students to determine forbidden elements as well as shari'ah compliance in the insurance business.

The course  instructor is INCEIF subject matter expert on takaful and risk management Ezamshah Ismail, who is also the Dean of School of Professional Studies at INCEIF. He was formerly the CEO of Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful and several industry-related institutions including Malaysian Institute of Insurance and the Financial Mediation (formerly known as Insurance Mediation) Bureau.

He holds a Masters degree in actuarial science from Northeastern University in the US and an LLM in business Law from the lnternational Islamic University Malaysia.

Interested?

Join the MOOC. It is self-paced, and free

INCEIF papers win Best Paper awards at IFBBE 2016

Source: INCEIF. Dr Eskandar receiving the Best Paper award from State Bank of Pakistan Deputy Governor Saeed Ahmad.

Three papers written by INCEIF (the International Centre For Education In Islamic Finance) faculty and students have won Best Paper awards at the Islamic Finance, Banking and Business Ethics Global Conference (IFBBE) held in Lahore, Pakistan.

The three winning papers are:

• Income Structure and Stability: An Empirical Analysis of Islamic and Conventional Banks in OIC Countries, by students Mohsin Ali and Mohamed Shah, and Professor Mansor Ibrahim. 
• A Case Study of Malaysia, by student Irum Saba, and Emeritus Professor Datuk Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem and Associate Professor Mohamed Eskandar Shah Mohd Rasid. 
• Non-financial Traits and Financial Smartness: International Evidence from Shariah Compliant and Socially Responsible Funds, by student WajahatAzmi, Professor Shamsher Mohamed and Associate Professor Mohamed Eskandar Shah. 

The conference, held as part of the collaboration between INCEIF and Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), brought together scholars and professionals engaged in the growth and development of Islamic finance. Suleman Dawood School of Business, whose curriculum was designed in partnership with Harvard Business School and the University of Western Ontario, is among INCEIF’s growing list of renowned international collaborative partners across the globe.

New academic courses available for Islamic finance through aafaq collaborations in Bahrain, UAE

Source: aafaq. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Dr Mahmoud Abdalaal, CEO of aafaq Islamic Finance (right), Professor Bruce Taylor, President of ECT (left), and Wael Al-Anqar, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and CEC presenter (not pictured).

The Institute of Finance and Management (IFM), a training institute for global professional certificates in Islamic finance, has partnered with the Emirates College of Technology's (ECT) Continuous Education Centre (CEC), an Abu Dhabi-based private institution of higher education, to explore the development of human resources, research and consultancy.

Under the terms of the agreement, IFM and ECT will issue a joint professional diploma in Islamic finance inclusive of Islamic banking, Islamic capital markets, risk management for Islamic financial institutions, accounting, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) vs Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and takaful. The certificates bearing the logos of both parties will be issued upon successful completion of the course.

Dr Mahmoud Abdalaal, CEO of aafaq Islamic Finance, said: “We continue to partner with pioneering and leading institutions in the UAE to contribute to the progress and development of the nation’s economy, specifically by preparing qualified and skilled professionals who can lead the country towards economic excellence. The highly strategic collaboration between IFM and ECT and CEC will provide high-quality training and professional development programmes to students to fuel their career growth. We are confident that this partnership will result in building visionary Islamic finance leaders of the future who will lead Dubai in its efforts to become the capital of the global Islamic economy in a few years.”

“In a strategic move, ECT has collaborated with IFM to offer joint diploma and certificate courses in wide range of Islamic Finance -related topics to build the professional competences of the UAE,” added Professor Bruce Taylor, President of ECT. “CEC is a reputed institution for distinctive educational programmes and the courses offered under the MoU are specifically developed for aspiring students looking to build a career in the promising Islamic finance sector. We are upbeat that our partnership will help in strengthening the UAE’s human capital, enabling them to play a decisive role in the banking and finance industry to address the challenges of the global economy.”

“The collaboration between IFM and ECT-CEC will offer the best Islamic finance programmes and courses with a strong focus on research, innovation, and training. We aim to underscore the importance of Islamic finance in the current and future economic perspectives. Aside from benefitting both parties, the partnership will contribute in building a generation of qualified professionals with the skills to address the challenges of the local, regional and global economies,” concluded Dr Mahmoud.

Source: aafaq. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Dr Mahmoud Abdalaal (right), and Dr Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees at University College of Bahrain

The MoU follows a separate signing ceremony between aafaq Education, an IFM subsidiary specialising in managing and investing in educational institutions, and the University College of Bahrain. The two organisations will offer an Executive Master’s Degree in Islamic Finance in the UAE.

The new agreement comes as the UAE is witnessing growing investments towards human capital to raise the bar of Islamic finance in line with Dubai’s efforts to achieve the vision of becoming the capital of the global Islamic economy. Aafaq Education will provide the necessary licensing for the provision of the new Master’s programme in the UAE, in addition to the required offices and state-of-the-art classrooms along with the management of the programme. Aafaq Education will also be responsible for marketing and promoting the new academic programme in the UAE and the GCC region.

Dr Mahmoud said: “The agreement with the University College of Bahrain is a significant addition to aafaq Education’s network of strategic partnerships aimed at making a positive impact in terms of driving faster growth and development of the Islamic finance industry which is considered a pivotal contributor to the global economy. The new partnership supports the ongoing efforts to provide the Islamic finance industry with highly qualified professionals who are able to continue the journey of excellence and leadership in the UAE and reinforce the country’s position on the map of the world Islamic economy.

“It will help in addressing the growing need for specialised manpower to deal with the ongoing changes and developments of Islamic banking products and services. At the same time, it will leverage available opportunities in the Islamic finance industry that continues to play a crucial role in maintaining a stable global economy and is poised to reach a total of US$3.4 trillion by 2020. We are confident that this agreement will be of great benefit in building competences and encouraging investment in human capital to achieve Dubai’s 'Capital of Islamic Economy' initiative launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”

Dr Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Founder and Chairman of Board of Trustees at University College of Bahrain, commended aafaq Islamic Finance’s vital role in supporting the UAE market with best-in-class Islamic financial services. He underlined their efforts to encourage research, development and training to address the various needs and requirements of the Islamic economy.

“Cooperating with one of the leading finance companies in the UAE opens up a new door for us to expand our specialised academic programmes and paves the way to contribute effectively in providing the local and the GCC markets with highly qualified human resources who have the skills and talents to face emerging challenges and take advantage of the promising prospects in Islamic finance, in support of the serious efforts to promote (the) Islamic economy,” Dr Al Khalifa said.

Established 13 years ago, the University College of Bahrain is a provider of the best higher education and academic Bachelor and Master degree programmes. It has a total of more than 1,500 Bachelor and Master graduates in business management, information systems, and graphic design. In line with the growing role of the GCC region as a key player in the Islamic economy, the University College of Bahrain is keen to expand its scope of academic programmes in Islamic finance through effective partnerships with leading financial institutions such as aafaq Islamic Finance.

Launched to support the Islamic economy concept, IFM provides a unique range of certificates with global partners along with a wide spectrum of management courses and programmes through an e-learning platform. In addition, it provides professional training services to individuals, institutions, banks and organisations.

The ECT was established in 1993 by the UAE Ministry of Education to provide technical and business development education. The CEC was opened with the goal of offering diverse, efficient and high-quality training programmes and professional development services to individuals and institutions in the public and private sectors.

Ibn al-Haytham’s Light Film Contest deadlines extended

Source: Mustafa Prize.

The organisers of the Ibn al-Haytham’s Light Film Contest in Iran have extended the deadline for registration in the face of overwhelming participation. More than 10 thousand students in groups of two or three have registered in this contest to date.

According to the Public Relations Department of the Mustafa Prize, the original deadline for registration was December 31, 2015 while the deadline for film submission was February 11, 2016. Students can now register themselves and submit their films with the subject of light and its applications at the same time at http://noor.mustafaprize.org. The extension of the registration of the contest to February 11, 2016, has pushed back other dates. The winners and selected films will be announced April 22, 2016 instead.

The prizes for the contest have also changed, from 100 Bahar Azadi gold coins to 200, and another 100 winners added for a total of 200. Top 10 schools and research centers, based on arbitration will receive 100 million rial grants to equip their laboratories.

The Ibn al-Haytham’s Light Film Contest aims to familiarise the students with optic sciences, light and its applications. Under the rules, each team of two or three must make a one-minute film on a relevant topic. More than 300 films are available at http://noor.mustafaprize.org as samples.

The Tehran and Fars provinces have the most registered students so far and the Razi research centre in Shiraz tops the list of registrars with more than 350 groups registered for this competition. Afarinesh research centre from Tehran district 4 and Avicenna research centre from Tehran district 15 are next with more than 200 groups registered. 

Ooredoo expands Indonesia initiative to embrace digital education

Ooredoo announced that it will extend an existing programme, Indonesia Belajar ("Indonesia’s learning") to include a focus on digital education initiatives.

In a demonstration of its commitment to bring digital to the Indonesian people Indosat Ooredoo pledged US$1 million to support digital education initiatives over the next five years. This focus will be divided between three digital pillars; improving education processes, empowering teachers and providing digital infrastructure.

On November 19 Indosat became the eighth operator in the Ooredoo Group to adopt the Ooredoo brand. This digital-first announcement saw the Indosat Ooredoo campaign become the top trending topic on Twitter in Indonesia during the launch as well as the website recording 10x its usual traffic, reaching 500,000 hits by 20 November with nearly three-quarters of these mobile users. The transformation was announced alongside the launch of a dedicated business strategy to build Indonesia’s leading digital telco and bring digital to the people by making this technology more accessible and affordable for everyone and every business.

Dr Nasser Marafih, President Commissioner, Indosat Ooredoo added: “Mobile technology has created new ways of delivering education, of collaborating and of sharing knowledge. The commitment to digital education announced today is a first-step towards creating a digital ecosystem which supports the advancement of the nation’s education and which enables access to this for all.”

“Indonesia Belajar’s digital education initiatives are one of the ways that we will deliver on our commitment to bring digital to the people. With this five-year programme Indosat Ooredoo aspires to create interactive educational environments and empower students and teachers alike,” said President Director and CEO Indosat Ooredoo, Alexander Rusli.

As part of its work to improve education processes Indonesia Belajar will support the pilot across 65 schools of the Hasri Ainun Habibie ORBIT Foundation and CREATE Foundation’s CREATE CyberSchool. CREATE CyberSchool is a cloud-based education platform, aligned with the national curriculum, which can be downloaded to tablets enabling students to access quality education wherever they are.

Each participating school will be equipped with tablets pre-loaded with the educational software. In parallel to this Indosat Ooredoo will partner with the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia to train 500 teachers, empowering them to use digital tools to increase digital literacy and deliver a high quality education for all.

Alexander added: “By supporting the rollout of the CREATE CyberSchool both students and teachers will enjoy the benefits of the foundation’s innovative educational software, enhancing educational processes at the same time. We believe the digital world can provide fundamental support to the education sector, helping to make education more accessible to children across Indonesia.”

HE Minister of Education and Culture, Anies Baswedan commented, "The Ministry fully supports Indosat Ooredoo's commitment through Indonesia Belajar to use digital technology to help improve access to education for children in Indonesia."

He added, "This is in line with the Ministry’s strategic goal to strengthen the roles of teachers, parents and education institution staff in an integrated education ecosystem. We appreciate Indosat Ooredoo's commitment. We hope that Indonesia's education world keeps on improving and is able to boost Indonesia's competitive advantage globally."

All Singapore Islamic religious schools have met criteria to take in students for the 2018-2020 session

All four madrasahs that offered the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) for their students in 2015 have attained scores higher than the Madrasah PSLE benchmark set by the Ministry of Education*, reports the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis), the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. 

Madrasah Alsagoff Al-Arabiah, Madrasah Irsyad Zuhri Al-Islamiah, Madrasah AlMaarif Al-Islamiah and Madrasah Wak Tanjong Al-Islamiah also passed the 2014 benchmark within the 2014 to 2016 three-year assessment period, enabling all four religious schools to enroll Primary 1 students for the 2018-2020 session. 

Out of the 280 Singaporean Primary 6 students who sat for the PSLE this year, 275 students (or 98.2%) are assessed suitable to proceed to secondary school. Muis will continue to extend its PSLE Assistance Package to all four full-time madrasahs whose students will be taking the PSLE in the coming year, the council said.

*Under the Compulsory Education Act, a madrasah’s average PSLE aggregate score must meet the PSLE benchmark to continue admitting Primary 1 students exempted from national schooling. The PSLE benchmark is pegged at the average PSLE aggregate score of Malay pupils in the six lowest-performing national primary schools who take four standard-level subjects. To be able to take in Primary 1 students, the madrasah must meet the PSLE benchmark at least twice in every three-year period.

Halal training goes online

Source: WHS website.

The third session of the Academics Forum, World Halal Summit (WHS) 2015, discussed the benefits of training online. Since the students do not have to be in a classroom, more students can be trained at one time, and from anywhere in the world.

"By investing in your human capital with training, you can improve your bottom line,” said Sameer Hassan, CEO of Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance, which provides online Islamic finance training from the UAE. Sameer also stressed that the courses need to be interactive and of high quality.

Zubair Moghal, Owner of the Halal Research Council, Al Huda CIBE of Pakistan has introduced a postgraduate programme that is delivered entirely online. “As the halal industry has very diversified topics, it took us two years to cover all the silos of the industry,” Zubair said. “But we must admit that halal training, be it online or offline, is definitely lacking behind Islamic banking. Only a handful of universities offer Masters level programmes, and these are mostly in Malaysia and Indonesia.”

The Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) offers traditional, online and blended learning. Professor Dr Faridah Hassan, Director, iHalal Management and Science, UiTM, stated that differing interpretations by madhabs (editor's note: schools of thought) could, for example, can be sensitive. “I would suggest for developers to develop modules for the region you are in. Once you go further, the content has to be generic enough to apply to everyone,” she said.

Register for the 2016 World Halal Summit here. 

Hashtag: #WHS

Al-Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University signs MoUs in Indonesia

Source: Al-Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University.

The Undersecretary of Al-Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University for Cognitive Exchange and International Communication, Dr Mohammad bin Said Al-Alam, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Undersecretary of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang in Indonesia, Dr Bambang Widagdo, in the presence of the Saudi Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia Mustafa bin Ibrahim Al-Mubarak.

Al-Imam University said the signed MoU is based on mutual agreements between both Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Indonesia in academical cooperation and  the teaching of the Arabic language.  

A second MoU was signed between Dr Al-Alam, representing Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University for Knowledge Exchange and International Communication, with Professor Dr H Farid Wajdi Ibrahim, representing the Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Ar-Raniry Banda Aceh, Indonesia as Rector.

Dr Al-Alam separately signed a MoU with Dr Boroososelo, Director-General of the Sharia Courts Authority of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia. The signed MoU aims to the exchange of judicial consultations and experiences in qualifying judges between both parties.