Hyderabad: Last week, in a quaint corner of Gandipet an elaborate function was held for a CBSE school’s inauguration. There was nothing unusual about the opening except that the event’s chief guest was the All India Muslim Personal Law Board chief. While the chief guest couldn’t make it due to a personal exigency, he was among other religious scholars, politicians, former bureaucrats and educationists who had assembled for the occasion, and for a reason. The school's timetable of this school is like that of any other, just that amidst Science and Geography classes, are periods marked for Islamic study.
The school, Creekside International School, is among the 200-odd schools (of the 1,200 Muslim-managed schools) in the city that offer both modern and Islamic curriculum, a trend that has been picking up for over a decade now. At least a dozen of these schools have come up in the city over the last five years, many of them plush properties, with the management’s eyes set on the expat Muslim population in Hyderabad who wish that their children get the best of both worlds.
Take for instance, Syed Mohiuddin (name changed) whose son studies in Zikra School in Somajiguda. “I want to preserve my son’s religious identity. The school offers both modern and Islamic education under one roof which ensures that he doesn’t become a victim of an identity crisis,” he says.
The schools are meeting parental expectations and even competing with each other in this segment. From offering prayer facilities and teaching Arabic vocabulary to prescribing traditional attire as the school uniform, some schools have clearly gone beyond putting just an extra period of Islamic values.
“They are targeting the Gulf NRI parents who are keen on their child learning Arabic and also theology. It’s a competitive market. If one school doesn’t offer it, they move to another,” says a keen observer of the trend.
Predictably, the schools have come up across the city. If some in the Old City offer modern and Islamic education for a modest fee structure ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per year, there are ‘international’ ones, albeit with an Indian syllabus, that have come up in affluent suburbs like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Toli Chowki. Here these sprawling campuses charge up to Rs 70,000 per annum, catering to a large number of children of non resident Indians.
“We have a number of children of expatriates studying with us who want to have the best of both modern and Islamic education,” says Salahuddin Osmani, executive director of Azan International School which has campuses in Banjara Hills and Toli Chowki. “While religiously following a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus, we also follow a curriculum prepared by scholars of Islam from the Nadwa seminary in Lucknow.” The management and teachers of these schools believe that schools will not only teach Islamic principles which advocate respect for fellow human beings irrespective of caste, creed and religion but also help students balance the material with the spiritual. “We have more than 5,000 students in our school willing to understand that adherence to the tenets of religion helps in building feelings of philanthropy and altruism,” says M A Lateef Khan, correspondent and secretary of M S Education Centre in Mehdipatnam. Defending the sprouting up of such schools, parents and teachers say that this recent trend will not evoke strong reactions from people belonging to other communities because tolerance and civic sense are the fundamental teachings of Islam.
Along with text books of Science and English, students are now packing books on Islamic Studies and the Arabic language every morning before leaving for school. With an increasing number of Muslim managed schools offering classes on Islamic studies along with modern education, the trend is quickly gaining momentum.
City schools have also started adopting the curriculum designed by Muslim Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (Mesco), which teaches vocabulary and phonetics of the Quran. Forty schools in Hyderabad and 300 across the country have adopted it.
One such school is Mount Mercy in Toli Chowki. “Using the prophet of Islam as a role model, we lay emphasis on values such as the responsibilities of individuals towards each other and the country,” says principal Fatima Farooqui.
However, Islamic classes are not mandatory for all students. For those belonging to different faiths, classes in moral science are arranged.
The school, Creekside International School, is among the 200-odd schools (of the 1,200 Muslim-managed schools) in the city that offer both modern and Islamic curriculum, a trend that has been picking up for over a decade now. At least a dozen of these schools have come up in the city over the last five years, many of them plush properties, with the management’s eyes set on the expat Muslim population in Hyderabad who wish that their children get the best of both worlds.
Take for instance, Syed Mohiuddin (name changed) whose son studies in Zikra School in Somajiguda. “I want to preserve my son’s religious identity. The school offers both modern and Islamic education under one roof which ensures that he doesn’t become a victim of an identity crisis,” he says.
The schools are meeting parental expectations and even competing with each other in this segment. From offering prayer facilities and teaching Arabic vocabulary to prescribing traditional attire as the school uniform, some schools have clearly gone beyond putting just an extra period of Islamic values.
“They are targeting the Gulf NRI parents who are keen on their child learning Arabic and also theology. It’s a competitive market. If one school doesn’t offer it, they move to another,” says a keen observer of the trend.
Predictably, the schools have come up across the city. If some in the Old City offer modern and Islamic education for a modest fee structure ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 per year, there are ‘international’ ones, albeit with an Indian syllabus, that have come up in affluent suburbs like Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills and Toli Chowki. Here these sprawling campuses charge up to Rs 70,000 per annum, catering to a large number of children of non resident Indians.
“We have a number of children of expatriates studying with us who want to have the best of both modern and Islamic education,” says Salahuddin Osmani, executive director of Azan International School which has campuses in Banjara Hills and Toli Chowki. “While religiously following a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus, we also follow a curriculum prepared by scholars of Islam from the Nadwa seminary in Lucknow.” The management and teachers of these schools believe that schools will not only teach Islamic principles which advocate respect for fellow human beings irrespective of caste, creed and religion but also help students balance the material with the spiritual. “We have more than 5,000 students in our school willing to understand that adherence to the tenets of religion helps in building feelings of philanthropy and altruism,” says M A Lateef Khan, correspondent and secretary of M S Education Centre in Mehdipatnam. Defending the sprouting up of such schools, parents and teachers say that this recent trend will not evoke strong reactions from people belonging to other communities because tolerance and civic sense are the fundamental teachings of Islam.
Along with text books of Science and English, students are now packing books on Islamic Studies and the Arabic language every morning before leaving for school. With an increasing number of Muslim managed schools offering classes on Islamic studies along with modern education, the trend is quickly gaining momentum.
City schools have also started adopting the curriculum designed by Muslim Educational Social and Cultural Organisation (Mesco), which teaches vocabulary and phonetics of the Quran. Forty schools in Hyderabad and 300 across the country have adopted it.
One such school is Mount Mercy in Toli Chowki. “Using the prophet of Islam as a role model, we lay emphasis on values such as the responsibilities of individuals towards each other and the country,” says principal Fatima Farooqui.
However, Islamic classes are not mandatory for all students. For those belonging to different faiths, classes in moral science are arranged.
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