Singapore - The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) has launched an academy to train stakeholders in the Muslim community.
They include religious teachers, mosque leaders and Halal certificate holders.
The new MUIS Academy was launched on Wednesday by Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.
Dr Yaacob urged religious administrators and teachers to develop their knowledge and expertise to help the Muslim community.
The MUIS Academy has also signed agreements with two prestigious institutions.
It inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Institute of Education (NIE) to develop a course for full-time madrasah (religious schools) teachers, leading to the Specialist Diploma in Teaching.
The MUIS Academy is also collaborating with the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta to offer religious teachers a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies programme.
Besides training, the new academy also aims to promote research on Islamic issues.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (26 September 2007)
