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Created: 13 December 2018

• MOU signed with nine countries for student, faculty exchange programmes, reservation of students
• Kashmir among 3 shortlisted places to host global conference in 2019

INDONESIA: In a first, a delegation of Private Schools Association of Jammu and Kashmir (PSAJK) participated in the International conference titled “Dawah and Islamic Education; Challenge, Concept and Policy,” in Indonesia.  The PSAJK delegation, which was only one to be invited from India, detailed the situation regarding education among muslims in the subcontinent in general and Kashmir in particular. They actively participated in sharing of ideas for achieving quality Islamic Education in tune with world standards. 

The conference organised by Mu’allimin and Mu’allimaat Muhammadiyah (MMM), a leading non-profit and social group of Indonesia, was convened to discuss ways and strategies to elevate the quality of Dawah and Islamic education in the world.  “The conference was attended by leading academicians and educations of the Islamic world. All of them felt that the level of education in Islamic world, be it Islamic or Science, lags in quality,” said G N Var. “There were number of brain storming sessions aimed to devise ways to standardise the level of education in the Islamic world.”

According to the organisers, the grand conference, which was organised on the eve of centenary celebrations of the parent organisation, was aimed to become a media of aspiration and network among people and organisation of Dawah and Islamic Education institutions coming from various countries. The conference was attended by delegates from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, India, United Kingdom and Turkey.

Institutions and organisations of these nine countries signed the MOU to promote value based moral education, student and faculty exchange programmes, reservation for meritorious and deserving students. “The MOU was one of our biggest achievements. It has opened the gates of best educational institutes of nine countries for our students,” said Var. “The collaboration will also lead to increase in the professional capacity of institutes and quality of education. We will also be able to host students from these countries. It will have a far reaching effect.”

The speakers at the conference described the golden age of learning in Islamic world and described the reasons that led to downfall of the knowledge industry. There was a unanimous commitment to share the knowledge and work hard to reclaim the knowledge centre status. The conference agreed to rejuvenate the understanding and spirit of Al-Maun to inspite progressive Dawah and forward looking Islamic education in the new century.

While giving a presentation, the Director of MMM said that the institute models its education on renowned Islamic thinker KHA Dahlan’s four principles. The first principle is Ilm before Amal (first to understand and then apply), second being akhlaq or character building, third being competency building (skill development) and fourth being critical thinking. The last principle advocates student centred learning and encourages the students to question and debate.

KHA Dahlan was an Indonesian Islamic revivalist who established Muhammadiyah. The conference also agreed to annually organise the conference at a global scale. The PSAJK put forward the name of Kashmir for the next round of conference to be held in 2019. After the deliberations, three finalists namely Kashmir, Malaysia and Turkey were shortlisted for the host candidates. The final announcement of venue will be confirmed by 28 February 2019.

MMM is a major Islamic Non-Government Organisation of Indonesia with more than 9000 Schools and 184 Universities. Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia with 29 million members and solely devoted to social and educational activities.