Introducing Maktab
3 years ago I was looking for a place to send my daughter to study the Deen on weekends in Perth. The places were either too far or too full to accept her enrolment. I realised that I wasn’t alone in facing this problem. There were many parents looking for a place to send their children too. With the help a few friends, we decided to start our own class with the University of Western Australia Muslim Student Association (UWAMSA).
As soon as we started the class I realised one fundamental problem: once a week is not enough. We only meet our students 2 hours a week. And in that 2 hours, 1 hour is for Quran and another hour for Islamic studies. And from that 1 hour, each student probably only get 10–15 minutes of actual Quran time. 10–15 minutes a week is definitely too little.
And from that 1 hour, each student probably only get 10–15 minutes of actual Quran time.
We asked for the parents to help make sure that the students read the Quran during the week at home. But we realise that everybody is busy. Parents may forget to remind the children and the children may not even remember to read on their own. We needed a way to get the children to want to read without being told. We need them to be self motivated.
Living in the post-PC world, we noticed that almost every child is glued to smartphones or tablets. Why not make a Quran app that is fun enough that the children will want to use it yet educational that it will help them learn the Quran. This is the genesis of Maktab. We wanted to create an app that would help us teach our students the Quran with the limited contact hours we have.
Maktab is not an app that replaces the teacher. It is a Quran teacher’s teaching assistant. It is created specifically to help teachers oversee the students’ progress, assign, and review the lessons assigned to the studetns.
It is an app that helps the students memorise and understand the Quran with flash cards and quizzes while competing with each other to learn more of the Quran. It is Quran learning for the age of gamification. They are memorising and understanding the Quran while playing a game.
After trying it with our students at our small Madrasah at UWA, we couldn’t be happier with the results. I assign the students ayat of the Quran to memorise and learn every week. We meet up every Saturday to review our lessons and compete on memorisation. We give out presents to the best student of the week.
Students are now asking for more lessons so that they can beat their friends. And since they have a general idea of the meaning of what they are memorising, we are getting interesting questions from them. A student asked me the other day, “Why do we read ‘Say, I seek refuge with the God of Mankind’? Who is suppose to say it?” This led into a discussion about seeking Allah’s protection and how Shaitan whispers in our hearts to do evil things.
Give Maktab a try and see the beautiful changes that will happen at your school. Get in touch with me if you are interested. You can read more about Maktab here www.twentyeight.xyz/maktab
