Maintenance & Consolidation

As the start of the 2008 term coincides with the start of a new Islamic year and hence Mahe Muharram, we are reminded of some special individuals' qualities. These act as a benchmark for us and our students to strive towards and emulate. Our Holy Imam (AS) trained his close companions from an early stage, and this illustrates the importance of training at the grass root level. Our students possess an enormous potential, and it is our – teachers and parents – duty to enable and facilitate its realisation.

With just over a month into the new year, SIM has witnessed yet another milestone with the number of students now exceeding 800. With more students still dropping in, the last two years have brought an increase of around 200 in total. These numbers further establishes SIM's position as one of the largest Madressa amongst our communities worldwide. Communication with other Madaris during the course of last year reinforces that SIM continues its position as a role model for many institutions.

Whilst ensuring that the main objectives of S I Madressa - imparting the basic and fundamental knowledge and practices of our religion – are maintained, the parameters of our role are gradually shifting. The aim is to provide platforms whereby the various parties in the education process can be in touch more frequently. In this context, the critical factor for progress is the triangle relationship between the teachers, students, and the parents. With this in mind, we are aiming to engage in an enhanced interaction process between the parties above, a process that has already begun.

Whilst 2007 was an intensive and a dynamic year, with new schemes and initiatives, the main buzz words for this year are consolidation and maintenance together with strengthening and depth. The idea is to ensure that the new systems and schemes are working well, and are delivered with quality.

On a final note, please join me in the prayers below, extracted from Sahifa-e-Sajjadiyyah, which so beautifully and aptly summarises our aims and objectives;

S&D

Shafique Govani
Principal

O God,
be kind to me through, the survival of my children, setting them right for me,
rectify for me their bodies, their religious dedication, and their moral traits, make them well in their souls, their limbs,
Help me in their upbringing, their education, and my devotion toward them

"Silmun Liman Saalamakum, Harbun Liman Haarabakum"

Parents, students, and teachers were received at the annual presentation day by echoes of "Silmun Liman Salamakum, Harbun Liman Haarabakum", where the theme for this year's presentation day was set around the tragedy of Karbala.

The well attended event, started with a message from the principal, summarising the achievements of the year elapsed and setting out the objectives for the current year.

Following a delicious lunch, the highlight of the day was the excellent performances by the students in form of plays and poems. Under the umbrella of SIM Creative, last years Class 10 students had worked very hard to put together plays around the time when Imam Hussein (AS) was leaving Madinah.

The play by the boys was based on the governor of Madinah demanding Imam Hussain (AS) to pay allegiance to Yazid Ibne Muawiyah. It ended with Imam Hussain (AS) visiting the grave of his grandfather Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) to bid farewell as he was leaving Madinah. The girls' play was based on the moving scene of Imam Hussain (AS) bidding farewell to his dearest daughter Fatema Sughra. Both performances were excellent and well received by the audience, where many people had tears rolling down their cheeks. The performances were further spiced up by the beautiful poems recited by the younger students.

The event was wrapped up with the final item on the agenda, namely the awards and recognition for the hard work and efforts during 2007.

"I gained a sense of realisation..."

One of the new schemes that lifted off the ground last year was a programme for the senior students, with the aim of providing them with equipment and tools for their life at university and later on at work. Areas covered ranged from self analysis to leadership and from CV preparation to critical thinking. The programme was led by four professionals from our community and was well received by the students. Here below are extracts of feedback from one of the participants, which illustrate how it has added value to their lives:

• What I personally found quite amazing was the amount of depth that you went into with regards to self-analysis. I had a vague idea of what it was based on books I've read but the extent to which you've covered was fantastic.
• I gained a sense of realisation of not just my weaknesses but my strengths as well, and that in order to succeed one must not only exploit your strengths but also address your weaknesses and most people are not willing to do that as this is a painful process and one that requires you to reach into the unknown.
• Our discussion briefly touched upon the impact of religion on Self-Analysis and that Buddhism and Hinduism have been mentioned in many books but Islam is never there and it is almost as if it is brushed aside. I must agree with you there as the books that I have read so far on Self-Analysis has mentioned Buddhism but in fact never mentioned Islam.
• So far, I have used this for interviews (Leadership Styles/Learning Styles/Listening Skills/Teamwork), The Media Monitoring Program (SWOT Analysis/Target Setting/Leadership Styles/Teamwork/Successful Leadership Strategies), and my daily life (Time Wasters & Savers, Pickle Jar Theory).
• I know a lot of people who were looking forward to this part of the course, and it didn't fail to deliver. It was well presented and the amount of tips and the quality of the advise given with regards to CV Preparation were extremely useful.
• The group exercises raised many thought provoking questions and it was great to see so many contributions from everyone.

Course Notes 2008 now online

One of the leaders of our community described our syllabus as the "Industry Standard". Alhamdulillah, the current SIM syllabus is a product with a solid foundation and an extensive reach, both in terms of the content as well as usage. The 2008 version can now be found on our website: www.madressa.net