12 Dis 2010 - Berita Harian's Report

Madrasah Wak Tanjong’s Resolution
Towards improving the performance and restoring the image of MWTAI

MADRASAH Wak Tanjong Al-Islamiah has introduced a number of changes to boost the performance of its students in the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).
This is done in line with its resolution to meet the benchmark set by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in allowing the institution, which has been producing local religious leaders for more than half a decade long, to continue admitting new students.

Among the changes that are going to be introduced is the modular system for religious subjects for students in Primary Four to Primary Six starting from next year.

This modular system means that religious subjects which used to be taught throughout the year, are now divided into several modules. Therefore, a student who has completed and passed a particular module does not need to take the module again in the next semester.

The madrasah has also decided to make some religious subjects which are not core like Jawi (a system of writing the Malay language using Arabic alphabet) and Akhlak (moral education) non-examinable. The overall result is a much lighter load for the students in terms of their studies.

Nevertheless, Ustaz Abdul Halim stresses that the changes that are going to be implemented will not compromise religious education in the madrasah which will continue to remain its core identity as a religious educational institution.

On the contrary, these changes are more directed towards a better management and distribution of curriculum time, so that students will be able to balance both the academic and religious syllabi.

“The reality is that madrasah students who are sitting for PSLE are carrying a heavy burden as they have to study up to 12 subjects. We hope that the steps that we are taking will help them balance the demands of both the academic and religious streams better,” Ustaz Halim commented.
This 52-year old madrasah at Sims Avenue failed to meet the minimum PSLE benchmark this year – second time in three years.

This means that the madrasah is not allowed to admit new Primary One students for a period of three years starting from 2010 under the Compulsory Education (CE) Act.
The benchmark this year was 175 while the mean aggregate score obtained by Madrasah Wak Tanjong was 166. Sixty-one students sat for the PSLE this year.

Challenge I:

Limited number of classrooms
Ustaz Abdul Halim highlighted that Madrasah Wak Tanjong is still operating as a double-session school and this has made the balancing of academic and religious curriculum more challenging.

This factor, in addition to the many subjects studied, means that the curriculum time allocated for each subject is quite limited.

For example, MWTAI allocates about 8 to 10 periods each for its secular subjects as compared to national schools which are able to allocate up to 15 periods for the same subjects.
The madrasah has to operate double-session because of the limited number of classrooms.
To overcome this challenge, the madrasah conducts extra remedial and enrichment classes run by teachers, external vendors and Malay/Muslim organisations.

 Challenge II:

Financing the yearly budget
The current education landscape is changing very fast and MWTAI aspires to keep up with the latest developments.
However, the madrasah is faced with the problem of funding.MWTAI is currently operating at an annual cost of $1.6 million dollars.Ustaz Halim commented that 40 percent of the operational cost is funded by school fees and another 20 percent by donations and annual fund raising projects.

According to him, the madrasah receives only $100,000 every year from the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) in the form of grants for teachers and students. The remaining funds has to be sought through external sources and special fund raising projects.“It cannot be denied that this has an effect on the madrasah’s performance,” he emphasised.

Challenge III:

Maintaining the quality of teachers
Ustaz Abdul Halim commented that he is satisfied with the quality and commitment of the 36 teachers working in the madrasah. Half of them are teaching the secular subjects.
Almost all of them have been sent for training funded by MUIS.
In addition to that, the teachers also undergo extra training programmes conducted internally and externally by private vendors and local Malay/Muslim organisations to upgrade themselves.

Meeting the Benchmark
MWTAI offers primary to pre-university education and usually enrolls about 65 to 70 students per year.
And that is why, according to Ustaz Abdul Halim, the three-year ban from enrolling new students will definitely affect the madrasah. Only time will tell the extent of the impact.

For now, 38 students have enrolled to enter Primary One at MWTAI next year. If there are students who wish to transfer to other madrasahs, the school will only know in January when school reopens.
According to him, the performance of a particular cohort in PSLE is related to the quality of the cohort itself.
There are some cohorts that are naturally better than others and this will affect the performance of the students.
Therefore, he and his teachers have identified parents as one of the “weapons” to ensure the success of Madrasah Wak Tanjong students.

The madrasah has plans to engage and encourage more parents to be actively involved in their children's education.
“In national schools too, parents’ involvement is heavily emphasised. We often read in the newspapers that excellent students usually have very strong family support,” he said before commenting on the CE.

Compulsory Education
Although he fully supports CE, Ustaz Abdul Halim hopes that the policies can be reviewed, especially the minimum benchmark that needs to be met by the madrasah and the penalty for the failure to do so.
“This causes a lot of stress on us and the penalty that has been imposed seems like a very heavy sentence,” he said.
Nevertheless, he refused to comment further except that Madrasah Wak Tanjong will continue to have dialogues with MUIS and MOE to reach an agreement that will benefit all parties.

 “We support CE and agree on the importance of madrasah students to have strong foundations in the English Language, Mathematics and Science. But at the same time, we hope that some of the policies can be reviewed.”
“We will continue to discuss with all groups. We do not want to argue or point fingers at anyone. That is not our intention. MWTAI wants a solution that is beneficial to all,” he stressed.
When asked if the challenges facing MWTAI can be overcome if the madrasah joins the Joint Madrasah System (JMS) managed by MUIS, Ustaz Abdul Halim said that the answer to that question is still not clear.

 “MWTAI,” he said, “will evaluate the pros and cons of the system before making any commitments.”
One of their main concerns is the number of students that will be admitted into the madrasah every year if the intake of students gets streamlined.

They are also concerned about the fate of their current teachers if they join the JMS. And that is the reason why the madrasah’s stand is to look at the effects of the JMS after it has run for a few years before making any decision.
“We are not closing our doors on the possibility of joining the JMS. However, for the time being, we are confident that with co-operation from the other madrasahs, we will be able to run Madrasah Wak Tanjong independently without affecting the quality of education that we offer to our students,” he commented.
Madrasah Needs Support from the Community

 The community’s support is very important for the success of the madrasah and Ustaz Abdul Halim is grateful for the support that the madrasah has received all this while. However, he is worried about the support in the upcoming years.
This concern has lately been intensified after hearing and reading various comments in the newspapers and Internet, made by members of public, about the madrasah education system especially after the announcement of the recent PSLE results.

 He added that some people even questioned the need to have up to six madrasahs to produce religious leaders.
The total intake for the Primary One cohort for all madrasahs every year has been set at 400. Madrasah Wak Tanjong accepts about 70 students per year.

However, in reality, Ustaz Abdul Halim explained that on average only about 10 percent or seven to eight students from each cohort will continue their studies in Islamic universities.

 Most of them choose to switch to the secular stream, whether to the national secondary schools or tertiary institutions like ITE, Polytechnics and universities. According to him, this has been happening for more than a decade.
Therefore, he said that madrasahs have an important role to play in moulding enough religious teachers and leaders to fill the needs of the mosques, Muslim institutions and organisations.
“This, furthermore, shows that the madrasah education system provides various opportunities for our children. Their prospects are not only limited to the religious sector,” he explained.