NGO Helps Teachers Learn the Ropes of Islamic Education

HYDERABAD: In view of the growing demand for Islamic education in minority-run schools in the city, Help Hyderabad, an NGO, has started training 50 women in teaching Islamic and Qur’anic subjects.

Abid Rasool Khan, chief of AP State Minority Commission, inaugurated the training programme at a rented premises in Haj House on Monday.

Saba Quardi, coordinator of the programme, said that though schools are offering Islamic studies as one of the subjects they do not have trained staff.

Also those schools that wish to start the course do not have the resources to pay teachers. "This is an area which drew our attention.

We started hiring qualified persons and loaning them to schools. So far 17 teachers have been sent to 15 schools. But the demand is high.

To meet the high demand we have decided to offer a three-month course to candidates who have cleared certified exams from madrassas (religious schools). The first batch comprises 50 women, most of them are in the age group of 25-35 years, who will go through the training from 10.30 am to 1.30 pm," she explained. The selected candidates will be trained by experienced persons in tajweed, or proper recitation of the Qur’an, Qur’anic grammar and other Islamic subjects. At the same time they will be introduced to basics of spoken English, computer literacy and modern methods in classroom teaching. tnnHelp Hyderabad will be paying between Rs 3000 and Rs 4,500 per month to each teacher and loan her to schools free of cost.