Singapore - Mosques are the traditional places for Muslim youths to learn about Islam, but soon they can find out more about the religion at blogsites, online forums and even sports clubs. And students can forgo the dreary prospect of tests and examinations as schoolwork will consist of field trips, group discussions and journal writing.
This is part of a new strategy by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) to expose more youths to religion. The strategy will be unveiled at a convention this Sunday where it will be reviewed by about 900 religious teachers, mosque leaders and others.
Getting youth to learn about Islam is crucial as they face new social challenges today which include pornography and other sexuality issues, said Ms Sharifah Farah Aljunied, assistant director of youth development at Muis.
"Islamic education can play a primary role in assisting and strengthening our young such that they become resilient (to new social challenges)," she said. Right now, only about 40 per cent of 108,000 Muslim students from national schools aged 5 to 17 are receiving some form of Islamic education.
Muis will embark on a drive to get all 68 mosques to adopt a national Islamic education programme known as Singapore Islamic Education System (SIES) by 2010. Introduced three years back, SIES is now being taught in 22 mosques here.
Muis‘ director of mosques Razak Mohd Lazim said it had conducted a massive consultation process before arriving at the new strategy. Since March, 735 community members have given their views at more than 17 work group sessions.
Mr Razak said many sceptics were won over when "we shared with them statistics and other evidence that showed that many Muslim youths Mr Razak said many sceptics were won over when "we shared with them statistics and other evidence that showed that many Muslim youths are experiencing a disconnect with mosque activities". They then realised the need to enhance Islamic education, he said.
Meanwhile, government officials and Muslim leaders from countries such as the United States, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines — the latter facing Islamic minority difficulties — have expressed keen interest in Muis‘ new strategy. Ms Farah said: "They see our new curriculum as suitable in the modern context. But we want to try it out here first before sharing it with others."
Source: www.todayonline.com (28 Agustus 2007)
