With an expanding Muslim population, coupled with the escalating costs of education and construction, Singapore's Mosque Building and Mendaki Fund (MBMF) contribution rates are to be revised to support the growing socio-religious needs of the community.
This is particularly true for the building of new mosques and rejuvenation of older mosques in order to meet needs for more prayer space. For madrasahs, the revised rates will still be insufficient to cover the sector’s projected needs over the next five years. These institutions will still need to find other means to meet the shortfall, such as through a gradual increase in school fees and zakat collections.
Every working Muslim in Singapore, including foreign workers and permanent residents, contribute to the community fund. The fund was originally set up to build a mosque in every new town and evolved in 1984, with the establishment of the MENDAKI Foundation, to support Yayasan MENDAKI's educational and social programmes for the community. It was further refined in 2009 to support religious education initiatives, as well as to include upgrading and revitalising older mosques.
MBMF rates were introduced in 1975, and last reviewed in 2009. Twenty-four mosques have been built in neighbourhoods across Singapore since 1975. To date, approximately S$297 million has been spent on building and upgrading mosques across Singapore through the Mosque Building Programme (MBP) and Mosque Upgrading Programme (MUP). Two more mosques will be completed by 2017, Maarof Mosque in Jurong West, Yusof Ishak Mosque in Woodlands. A new mosque will also be built in Tampines North. In the next three years, Muis will also be completing Phase 2 of the MUP, which will add 2,000 more prayer spaces.
For madrasahs, over S$3 million has been spent on teacher training to expand their capacity, with 193 teachers graduating from the National Institute of Education, Edith Cowen University and Republic Polytechnic.
MENDAKI spends about S$27 million annually on education programmes, including S$8 million on its flagship MENDAKI Tuition Scheme (MTS) which is highly subsidised. MTS has benefitted close to 200,000 students in the past 34 years. The number of students in MTS is currently almost 10,000 in 50 centres. MENDAKI has also expanded its outreach so that MTS centres operate out of mosques and help those staying near the mosques’ vicinity.
This is particularly true for the building of new mosques and rejuvenation of older mosques in order to meet needs for more prayer space. For madrasahs, the revised rates will still be insufficient to cover the sector’s projected needs over the next five years. These institutions will still need to find other means to meet the shortfall, such as through a gradual increase in school fees and zakat collections.
Every working Muslim in Singapore, including foreign workers and permanent residents, contribute to the community fund. The fund was originally set up to build a mosque in every new town and evolved in 1984, with the establishment of the MENDAKI Foundation, to support Yayasan MENDAKI's educational and social programmes for the community. It was further refined in 2009 to support religious education initiatives, as well as to include upgrading and revitalising older mosques.
MBMF rates were introduced in 1975, and last reviewed in 2009. Twenty-four mosques have been built in neighbourhoods across Singapore since 1975. To date, approximately S$297 million has been spent on building and upgrading mosques across Singapore through the Mosque Building Programme (MBP) and Mosque Upgrading Programme (MUP). Two more mosques will be completed by 2017, Maarof Mosque in Jurong West, Yusof Ishak Mosque in Woodlands. A new mosque will also be built in Tampines North. In the next three years, Muis will also be completing Phase 2 of the MUP, which will add 2,000 more prayer spaces.
For madrasahs, over S$3 million has been spent on teacher training to expand their capacity, with 193 teachers graduating from the National Institute of Education, Edith Cowen University and Republic Polytechnic.
MENDAKI spends about S$27 million annually on education programmes, including S$8 million on its flagship MENDAKI Tuition Scheme (MTS) which is highly subsidised. MTS has benefitted close to 200,000 students in the past 34 years. The number of students in MTS is currently almost 10,000 in 50 centres. MENDAKI has also expanded its outreach so that MTS centres operate out of mosques and help those staying near the mosques’ vicinity.
The new monthly MBMF contribution rates will take effect on 1 June 2016, and cover raises of S$1 to S$10 depending on the total monthly wage of the employee.
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View the new rates
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