S'pore Islamic school in Java tie-up

JAKARTA: An Islamic school in Singapore has teamed up with a Muslim boarding school here to launch an international religious school in East Java.

The school opened in the Magetan district when the new school year started last month. Its first batch of pupils attend kindergarten, primary 1 and 2 classes.

While the school is already running, its partners - the Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah and Yayasan Pesantren Sabilul Muttaqin (YPSM) - officially cemented their relationship by signing a memorandum of understanding in Surabaya yesterday. The Indonesian group runs about 200 Islamic boarding schools in East Java.

The chairman of its board of directors, Mr Miftahul Huda, told The Straits Times that the tie-up was part of its efforts to improve the quality of education in pesantrens so that religious school graduates could compete for jobs with those educated in secular schools.

'We like the mix of secular and Islamic studies in the Al-Irsyad curriculum so that our graduates can compete in the labour market,' he said.

The other attractions are that Al-Irsyad is part of the Singapore Islamic education system that is recognised by Al Azhar University in Cairo and that has links to Cambridge University in Britain, he noted.

'Another factor is that English will be the main medium of instruction, something that many Indonesians want to be proficient in today.'

Al-Irsyad's executive director, Mr Razak Mohamed Lazim, said: 'We are very proud to be in the project as it means a recognition of Singapore's madrasah education by Indonesia.'

Yesterday's signing is a boost to its efforts to export its educational services to Islamic schools in the region.

Al-Irsyad is one of six madrasahs in Singapore under the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) which has adopted a balanced and integrated curriculum. Students learn both the sciences and Islamic disciplines at primary level.

Yesterday's tie-up is the second for Al-Irsyad. It set up an affiliate school, Al-Irsyad Satya, near Bandung, in West Java, in partnership with Yayasan Parahyangan Satya last year.

In the latest project, it is forging a long-term collaboration with the transfer of educational technologies and systems to the East Java school in the first two years.

At a later stage, the Al-Irsyad curriculum will be adapted by all the boarding schools under the foundation in East Java. The project is expected to benefit some 75,000 students.

The interest started when five YPSM board members spent a week in Singapore last December to study Al-Irsyad's educational system.

Subsequently, key leaders of the new school spent one month in Singapore in March on an internship programme.

Some 18 new teachers then spent two weeks in Singapore during the June holidays to study the Singapore curriculum and academic systems.

Temasek Foundation chairman, Mr Goh Geok Khim, said: 'It is important for a newly set-up school to be established with good processes and systems, and be equipped with well-trained staff.'

He said the foundation is funding S$306,000 as grant for teacher training and academic curriculum development. Over time, the East Java school will be a model for other schools in the province, he said.