In Islam, education aims to nurture good human beings from all angles. Thus, education in Islam places great importance on the development of good character also known as “akhlakul karimah”. Hence, Islamic education cannot be limited to academic achievements alone but needs to form a good human personality that benefits society.
To this end, the Penang State Government has established the Penang Islamic Foundation (YIPP) in 2012 to focus on Islamic education. The main objective of establishing YIPP is to create more opportunities for the Muslim community to obtain a better and holistic education. Under this mandate, YIPP has taken steps to lead in the field of Islamic education in Penang by introducing educational programs that focus to educate and solve community problems, namely the Pulau Pinang Mengajar, KAFA Menengah Penang and Iltizam Huffaz.
Program Pulau Pinang Mengajar
“Program Pulau Pinang Mengajar” is a guided class that aims to help the children of the asnaf and B40 groups who live in the Public Housing Schemes (PPR) area. This program focuses on improving the level of literacy and numeracy among students from this vulnerable group. As of to date, we have implemented this program in 5 locations, namely in Nibong Tebal, Kampung Padang Cempedak, PPR Jalan Sungai, Jelutong, Flat Kampung Melayu in Air Itam and at Tanjung Tokong UDA Flats.
Program Pulau Pinang Mengajar mobilizes trained volunteers to guide and inspire dropout students. These volunteers are trained to handle the teaching modules developed by YIPP together with the Penang Campus IPG and the Tuanku Bainun Campus IPG. Program Pulau Pinang Mengajar had been nominated for the Star Golden Hearts Award organized by The Star newspaper.
KAFA Menengah Pulau Pinang
Penang became the first state to implement the innovation of the KAFA program by combining KAFA studies with mosque outreach. Previously, KAFA studies were limited to primary school students only. YIPP took the initiative to further strengthen religious education among teenagers from secondary school level beginning at Form 1 to 4. KAFA Menengah classes are held at selected mosques every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm. As of today, a total of 600 students are attending KAFA Menengah in 13 mosques with 40 tutors.
Up to now, Penang and Selangor are the only 2 pioneering states that implemented KAFA for secondary school students in Malaysia.
Iltizam Huffaz- Fast Track SPM For Tahfiz Students
Another program developed by YIPP in the term of Islamic Education is the Iltizam Huffaz program which acts as a platform to help tahfiz students throughout the state of Penang in preparation for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam. This class is held every weekend (Saturday and Friday) with the help of well-trained teachers from the Penang State Education Department and is sponsored by Zakat Pulau Pinang. The Iltizam Huffaz program aims to ensure that all tahfiz students obtain SPM and at the same time helping graduates of tahfiz institutes in Penang obtain job opportunities either in the government or private sector through SPM certification. This can simultaneously help reduce unemployment issues and increase the employability of tahfiz institute graduates in Penang.
-EDUCATION+TVET ASIA
