Bandar Seri Begawan - Tasawwuf is a kind of knowledge that will educate the soul and instil honourable and respected attitude. Therefore, it is appropriate that this subject be taught at all levels of education in the country.
This was proposed by Dato Seri Setia Hj Kassim Hj Lamat, in his working paper, entitled Pelajeran Tasawwuf Dalam Kurikulum Persekolahan Ugama: Suatu Penilaian Berdasarkan Pengalaman, which was presented during the Tasawwuf Islam Seminar, organised by the Usulluddin Department of the Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Institute of Islamic Studies, at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, on January 29.
In the working paper, Dato Seri Setia Hj Kassim, touched upon teaching of Tasawwuf in religious schools, reviewing the background and proposing some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning the subject.
The subject was taught in Primary Four, Five and Six in religious schools nationwide. The general objective of teaching the subject was to cleanse and purify one‘s heart and soul from despicable attitudes (Mazmunah) and to fulfil them with good attitude (Mahnurdah).
Other than that, it was for the students to have a strong iman or piety embedded in them which should encourage them to do good deeds.
The textbook used for the subject was Zainul Insan or Perhiasan Manusia, as the teaching and learning material, in which its language and arrangement were easy to understand, using a question and answer format, giving simple definitions.
However, he emphasised that the effectiveness of the teaching and learning depends on the creativity of the teachers in arranging and designing the lesson, which he said was the key to effective teaching.
Based from his observation, he assumed that Tasawwuf was a subject, easy to understand and follow, although some students had voiced out that it was quite difficult and boring.
From teacher‘s point of view, most of them said that teaching the subject at the stated educational levels in religious schools was appropriate as the students were in the age group of 10 to 12 years.
Teachers also suggested that textbooks should be made more attractive with illustrations to entice interest of students.
Towards the end, he proposed that to ensure the effectiveness of teaching and learning the subject, teachers should be trained and fully equipped in teaching preparations such as knowledge, religious academics and professionalism (discipline, enthusiasm and work ethics).
According to the Head of the Examination Unit of the Department of Islamic Studies, Hajijah Hj Moktal, Tasawwuj was one of the most improved subjects in the Sijil SekolahSekolah Rendah Ugama Examination for 2007.
Source: www.brudirect.com (31 Januari 2008)