Shah Taj Khan/Pune

Jamia Tajveedul Quran and Noor Meher Urdu High School of Malad, Mumbai, are in the limelight and under the glare of the national media due to the phenomenal success of its 22 Hafeez-e-Quran students who have done well in the SSC examinations recently.

All 22 students from the two Madrasas appeared for the 10th class examination held by the State Board of school education, and cleared it. These students and their schools were featured in the national newspaper and television channels.

Madrasa Students in their computer class

Jamia Tajveedul Quran is different from other madrasas. It has a proper arrangement of modern education along with dini (religious) education.

The students in this madrasa get a school education along with the daily recitation of the Quran. The classes for subjects in deen (religion) and the Duniya (mundane) are held in the same building. 

At the end of their schooling, these students are lucky to have certificates of Hafiz-e-Quran (one who can recite the Holy Quran) and that of the 10th class in their hands.

School principal Shazia Sajid Khan with students

School principal Shazia Sajid Khan says that the balance between Deen and Duniya is the USP of this institution. She said both streams of education are given equal importance in this school since a student needs both for dealing with practical aspects of life.

Abu Talha and Muhammad Dilshan, students who cleared the dual degrees, admitted the path to success was not easy, but their hard work paid and today both are very happy and their teachers and parents are proud of them. Their major problem was during the pandemic-linked lockdown when their studies were disrupted.

They said gradually they got used to online learning and could prepare for the examinations. Abu Talha says: “The schools were closed, we were finding it very difficult to study but none of us lose courage and worked with honesty and hard, and today all of us have achieved success.”

Inside the school

Most of the successful students want to continue their studies by taking science while some want to become engineers and others aspire to make a career in B Pharma.

The unique confluence of Dini and worldly education is as imparted in the Jamia Tajveedul Quran and Noor Meher Urdu High School is usually given in madrasas but that keeps the students out of the mainstream modern education. On stepping into practical life and shouldering responsibilities, they feel disappointed and lack many talents and understanding to deal with the real mundane world.

Shazia Sajid Khan, principal of Noor Mehr Urdu High School says that the day in her school starts with the recitation of the national anthem. “The students have to work doubly hard. The students are given the schedule of their day and tips on how to go about it.”

The students wake early in the morning and after taking a bath, they read the Fajr prayers and then there join the class for Dini Taleem.

Thereafter, they go to the school and study different subjects till one o'clock. After leaving school, they have their lunch and after taking a rest the students are encouraged to do self-reading and revision of the day’s studies.

Students in the Dini studies classroom

“Today the students are happy that their hard work has paid off – they are Hafiz and also matriculates. The success in the SSC examination has filled these children with enthusiasm and they are preparing to continue their education even further.,” the principal said.

The twin Malad schools are examples of how modern education can be imparted successfully without having to change the real course of dini education in Madrasa.