Programme Introduction
Around 70% of Muslim children in the UK attend madrasah/maktab education, that is part time Islamic education of some kind in formally organised settings like masajid or private tuition. This education ends for most children between the ages of 14 and 16, for many girls it ends a lot earlier.
While their school and college education will go on for up to 5-7 more years, Muslim youth stop their Islamic education at a time when they need it the most. As they get to the latter stages of secondary education, or go through 6th form and college, it is certain that they will be exposed to ideas and lifestyle choices that will challenge everything we have taught them as children. Furthermore, they are also going through puberty and all the complexities and challenges of youth. At this time, they need constant guidance and mentoring.
Most young people stop madrasah education, because the traditional modes of it here in the UK and many other Western Muslim communities are not sustainable along with the pressures of GCSEs and A levels.
To address this problem, we have launched The Youth Mentoring Programme. A programme specifically for young people aged 14-18. The programme is designed with emphasis on mentoring young people so that they have direct access to a scholar who knows them well and guides them accordingly. Formal teaching and contact time is kept limited to a couple of hours a week, mainly in the form of talking sessions in which various aspects of life are discussed from an Islamic perspective. Furthermore, each student on the programme will receive one to one mentoring and personal development planning with 2-3 sessions in which development targets will be identified and monitored. These will also be an opportunity for young people to address matters they may not want to discuss in a group setting. Mentoring will be provided by male and female mentors who are graduates of shari’ah.
While it is expected that most students on the programme will have received their basic Islamic education, we will use the weekly sessions to cover areas of Islamic education that are not normally covered in madrasah/maktab education. Should it be the case that there are significant gaps in essential Islamic knowledge, we will give all students access to our on-demand courses to address this. Our courses cover all of the essential areas of Islamic education that a Muslim needs. You can see the range of courses on our courses page.