As part of its efforts to enhance the religious consciousness and interaction among students, the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department (IACAD) together with the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) unveiled the Ajyal programme. This initiative seeks to develop an umbrella organization for school students in Dubai and foster interfaith dialogue and understanding among school-going students in the area.
The “Ajyal” program is one of the most significant programs of the “Gharas Al-Khayr” which focuses on the improvement of the relation between students, parents and other related educational institutions. By the use of various activities the programme provides for religious education and development of communication skills of all parties to the programme, including students themselves, their parents as well as the school administrators.
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Objectives and Scope of the ‘Ajyal’ Programme
Originally determined to be held on a yearly basis throughout the academic year and running at the time of this writing, Ajyal is a programme of lectures and discussions along with workshops to promote the understanding of religions and increase students’ awareness of society. Thes events will be presented by a team of identified and well qualified speakers together with qualified educators in the respective fields.
The primary goals of the programme include:
- Promoting religious and cultural awareness: Engaging students into spoken word etiquettes in relation to religious and moral values, in a bid to enhance students’ recognition of their religion standards and principles in advocating for harmonious peaceful co-existence.
- Encouraging positive interaction: Students, parents and teachers came up with ideas on how they could work together in tackling different social issues hence positively enhancing their understanding of the programs.
- Enhancing communication skills: Students will be taken through several exercises and activities that will enable them to solve different problems orally and in groups, thus enhancing their verbal skills that they can apply in their daily lives as well as in the course.
Institutional Collaboration
The Ajyal programme also embrace the seriousness of leading education and religious institutions in Dubai, who demonstrate the zeal to solicit for the overall change, growth and development of the tender age population. Ahmed Darwish Al-Mehairi, the Director-General of IACAD, highlighted the significance of this undertaking in building space to support the unity of the educational community.
Al-Mehairi said that the launch of the ‘Ajyal’ programme is a significant step towards actualization of the vision of using the collaborative language to attain the department’s goals by providing students, parents and other educational bodies with assortment of the available resources from the institution hence exhibiting the collective institutional relations among the entities in Dubai.
He further added that the Ajyal programme seeks to foster the desired changes in the students and create a much needed framework where learners are encouraged to learn actively and with understanding so as to empower them with knowledge and skills required in the greatly changing social and religious fabrics of the world today.
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KHDA’s Support for the ‘Ajyal’ Programme
Sparking laud, Aisha Abdullah Miran the Director-General of KHDA, termed the initiative as hugely beneficial in terms of instilling social responsibility and religious consciousness among the newborn generations.
Miran said that we welcome the launch of the ‘Ajyal’ programme which is one of the continuous initiatives carried out by the members of the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department to educate the emerging generations of important social phenomena and also foster positive interactivity.
She also stressed that the programme reflects the vision of Dubai regarding education, and according to which schools are not just places for gaining knowledge but also for becoming moral and social beings.
Key Features of the Programme
In Ajyal programmes, students are provided with many programs based on the age of the students. Some of the notable features of the programme include:
- Creative sessions on social and religious areas of interest like to be kind, to accept others, and have respect for different religions.
- Debate forums where the students, parents, and the teachers can sit down and discuss on some of the burning issues in the society.
- Seminars which involve the use of guest speakers who are specialists in the education and religious learning industry to give the students rich and in-depth knowledge.
- Emphasis on practical aspects of values, for instance, challenging a student to live by the given values every day asked to practice.
The Ajyal programme aims to encourage cooperation between the different segments of the educational process for students, parents, and employees whilst providing religious and social values. In this way, through adoption of the LPO programme which makes the learning environment more open, more tolerance is promoted in schools in Dubai.