Taalimi Board
Maktab: The Heart-Beat of the Ummah
Probably, the most important commitment of the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa is the facilitation of Islamic education through the Taalimi Board. The Taalimi Board has a number of supervisors who visit Muslim schools and Makaatib which are attended by an excess of 15,000 children. The role of supervisors is to ensure that the standard of education is maintained at a high level as well as assisting educators with effective techniques for imparting instruction.
As the geographical spread of these institutes is vast, supervisors travel long distances to reach the many affiliate institutes which benefit a lot from the encouragement, support and guidance given to them to enhance the process of learning.
The Taalimi Board implements a Tas-heel Series curriculum which is enhanced all the time with textbooks, teacher guides and other learning aids. Workshops and seminars are held for parents and educators as well as Madrasah committees in order to apprise them with developments in the curriculum. These are conducted covering a wide range of issues pertinent to the work of Maktab personnel, management and classroom practitioners. Some topics covered are using teaching resources, tips for remedial work, staff motivation, pupil’s discipline, etc.
Specialist educators, consultant curriculum developers, supervisors, independent evaluators as well as other stakeholders play a crucial role in developing the material used in the curriculum which has now been adopted by other institutes in the Southern Africa region as well as overseas where it has been translated into a number of languages.
Assessments, oral and written, are carried out so as to ensure that learners work hard to gain mastery of their lessons. Centrally-set written examinations are administered annually in specific subjects offering an opportunity to uniformly measure the progress of learners enrolled in the affiliated institutions.
Such a monumental undertaking is fit to be work of a governmental department of education. However, South African Muslims have taken it upon themselves to ensure that the obligatory knowledge of Deen is imparted to their young ones through the establishment of Makaatib and related enabling infrastructure.
Specialised Services
In a nutshell, the Taalimi Board offers the following specialised services to affiliate Muslim Educational institutes:
For Learners/Pupils:
- Resources
- Assessments - Oral and Written Examinations
- Support systems
For Teachers/Educators:
- Upgrading skills
- Evaluation
- Educational support
For Other Role Players:
- Advisory
- Workshops and liaison
- Administrative support
Curriculum:
- Research and development
- Tas-heel Series implementation
- Teaching aids
- Teacher guides and schemes
- Planning and forecasting
Quality and Standards:
- Routine inspections
- Oral examinations
- Written examinations
- Progress reviews
Tarbiyyah:
- Learner conduct and discipline
- Dress code
- Practical implementation of lessons
Tas-heel Series:
- From Pre-School (Age 4) to Grade 12 (Age 18)
- Available in quality print
- Adopted for use globally
- Available in different languages