EARLY LESSONS: Pupils of Al Madina Kindergarten interact with the teacher in the classroom. Photo by Umer Nangiana
By Umer Nangiana
With a vision to provide children with the best of both Islamic and conventional education, Al Madina School has started its Kindergarten section at the state-of-the-art campus in Wakrah. Aiming to upgrade to primary and secondary, and ultimately to university, a few years down the line, the school management says all available seats for the next term starting this year have already been filled. Nadeem Sheikh, the founder of the school, tells Community that he opened the school with an idea to establish a British Islamic school in Qatar where the children would learn Qur’an and Hadith besides getting the best of British curriculum. Excerpts:
What is your vision for the school?
The purpose is to have a British Islamic school, having an Islamic environment and Islamic studies, including Qur’an and Hadith, in parallel with a worldly curriculum and here we implement the British curriculum. So, you have the best of both, because what our Deen (religion) teaches us is that you have to be best in both. The intention is to do it as a project for Allah and make it Sadiqa-e-Jaria (perpetual charity).
How many students do you have in your school right now?
We opened in January this year. So far, we have around 45 students and our capacity is 130. Because we opened in the middle of the year, in the second term, there were parents who have been with us since beginning, so they held on for us. For September session 2015-16, we have the full school to 130 places and this we had without any advertisement.
Why is it only Kindergarten?
When we started this, the vision was to start Kindergarten and may be primary and secondary, but then due to the requirements from the SEC to open a place, there are certain requirements that we have to fulfill, we couldn’t find a property big enough to fulfill those requirements.
So we came down to KG and primary and again we couldn’t fulfill that so we thought we have made a lot of promises and have planned a lot, so let’s go ahead with KG. So far, it is KG only but we have plans for primary and secondary in the years to come. There is a lot of demand for it.
You said you have modern facilities at the campus, what are some of them?
We have a library, an Information Technology laboratory, special rooms for jolly phonics where children would learn phonetics, dedicated soft play rooms and play areas for children, nursing rooms, a canteen, a mosque and much more. I think the library and the IT lab gives us an advantage and it compares with the schools that are well established.
What challenges did you face in establishing the school? Was it difficult finding good teachers?
It was difficult but now we have a very diverse team with people from different nationalities. The way that a school similar to this would start up is that the local community would get together, like-minded people come together and they establish the school and over time it grows.
In Qatar, the challenge we do have is that people come from different parts of the world and everyone does not have the same mindset or mentality and no one knows how long they will be here for.
So we had the challenge to get the right staff. But by the help of God we have been able to put together a very good team and they are delivering. They have given the results that are required. The evidence is that for the next year, we are fully booked based on commendation from other parents. Parents have given us very good reviews. They are very happy. For the next year, we are advertising through different sources and we hope to attract more good teachers and would be able to provide what the school had set out to.
What do you think sets your school apart from others with similar agenda?
The environment here is Islamic. Most of the schools here profess that they provide both Islamic and the conventional studies but when you do send children there, most parents have complaints and the Islamic side is not catered for. We had very good feedback from the parents that they are getting the best of both. Just recently, the Qur’an teacher got very good feedback and there have been some children who have gone back in to the community; they had Qur’an competitions and they have come out on top.
What are your plans for future?
With the school full next year, I hope for the parents to come together. This is the project for the sake of community. Once the parents see what we are doing, I am hoping that we have some committed people come together and move this project forward. The purpose is to establish an Islamic school in Qatar. So we are going to primary and secondary and Inshaallah we are looking for all the way up to university. We also intend to affiliate or partner with UK institutes who are doing really well and have student exchanges.
