The Council for Islamic Education and Research (CIER) is a wing of one of the largest Islamic movements in Kerala. The CIER’s work is to prepare books for Islamic Institutions and to train their teachers. Established in 2002. Dr. E.K.Ahmad Kutty, former Head of the Department of Arabic in Calicut University is the founder chairman of the CIER. Other senior members of the CIER’s governing board include Saeed Faruqi,former Chief Instructor of the Government-run Arabic Language Teachers’ Training Institute, Calicut, and N.P.Abdul Ghafoor, former member of the Kerala Government Text books Committee.
Our major achievement so far is a set of new textbooks for islamic Institutions, which are probably one of their kind in the whole of India. The text books used previously, were at least half a century old and badly need to be reformed. We retained the basic content of the earlier curriculum as it broadly was, but made major changes in style and presentation, drawing on modern, child-centric, activity-based and story-telling teaching methods that encourage students to think for themselves rather than simply bombarding them with information.
CIER’s texts are brightly coloured pictures splayed on every page, the Malayalam and Arabic lettering large and bold and reader-friendly for children, each chapter ending with a set of questions, puzzles, fill-in-the-blank exercises and so on. Because the learning should not be a drab affair. It should be fun. In many Arab countries, too, they have books like this. In fact, we’ve borrowed quite a few ideas from their books as well’ in addition. The CIER has prepared a set of audio CDs of rhymes contained in its new textbooks, and plans to prepare visual CDs of lessons as teaching aids for Institution instructors. Half of these instructors, are women.There are some audio CD s of the Holy Quran also which enable the children follow the moderate recitation.
All the classes in Institutions should be ABC (Activity Based Classroom) . This is the perspective of CIER. So the text book. have been prepared in this style. For Example a chapter about zakat ul fither, the poor-due. In the texts we earlier used, children were simply told about zakat. But in these new books,children are asked to count the number of members of their family who are eligible to pay zakat, to discuss with their parents and to calculate how much zakat they should pay on them and whom they should pay it to and so on. In this way, they learn what zakat ul fithar is in practical terms. Besides, it is also a mathematical exercise for them and a way for them to discuss what they learn in the Institution with their parents. The classes of Institutions in kerala are held either in the early mornings or in the late afternoons, thus allowing their students to attend regular school simultaneously. The include books for the teaching of basic Arabic and Islamic Studies. The CIER is presently working on texts for students in higher classes. For these senior students it has prepared a curriculum to be used during their summer vacations. It is also almost over with work on a set of two texts for kindergarten students, which, deal with such issues as respect for parents, elders and friends, personal hygiene and basic moral values, relayed through rhymes and stories.
Another area in which the CIER is doing pioneering work is that of Institution teachers’ training. It conducts teachers’ training courses, of one month for new teachers and two-day refresher courses three times a year for existing teachers. Plans are also afoot to establish a separate teachers’ training institute to popularize the use of modern teaching methods in the Institution.
The CIER’s books, are now also being used in institutions other than the islamic Institution. So many English-medium schools are now using this texts for teaching Arabic, and the English version of the Islamic Studies texts.The CIER books have a wider appeal outside Kerala as well. The books are also being used in the institutions run by the Indian Islahi Centres, in several Gulf states where many Malayali Muslims live. In order to present its model of madrasa education, management and reform, the CIER organized two large conventions, one in Calicut and the other in New Delhi, that brought ulema and Muslim educationists from different parts of India, particularly the north, where many madrasas still remain stuck in a medieval groove. Nothing much has come out of these conventions in practical terms as yet ,but at least they provided us a means to get our message across and tell others about our efforts.