The Scottish Government recently published a report on SQA attainment and school leaver qualifications in Scotland. The headline was that ethnic minorities, specifically Asians, were doing better than the national average.
Delving into the figures however, the familiar pattern of the last few years emerged. The figures show that the average tariff scores for Pakistanis and Bengalis read 174 & 182 respectively, whereas the Indians and Chinese reached 198 and 219.
Young Indians and Chinese were indeed doing very well, leaving Pakistanis and Bangladeshis trailing in their wake. For Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, read Muslims.
I am looking into potential factors that may be the root cause of this under achievement. Some thoughts that spring into mind relate to identity, Islamophobia and other forms of disadvantage.
It would also be true to say that most of the Pakistani and Bengali pupils attend Madrasah every day after finishing their classes in school. As a young person having been through the system i found that both operate through strikingly different teaching styles that don’t necessarily complement each other. I feel it’s important that mainstream education engages to work in closer partnership with these institutions to support and engage in good practice.
We’ll be exploring this and other issues in this week’s ‘Our Youth, Our Future’ tour with Shaykh Amer Jamil, one of Scotland’s top Islamic scholars.
He’ll be launching his latest Reminder publication at the events on the topic of Muslim youth. It will reach some thought provoking conclusions on the measures that need to be taken by young people themselves, and the community as a whole.
ABERDEEN
Wednesday 3rd June 7pm
New Kings NK14, Aberdeen University
DUNDEE
Thursday 4th June 8pm
Dundee Central Mosque, 6 Miln Street
GLASGOW
Friday 5th June 7pm
Ethnic Minority Enterprise Centre, 423 Paisley Road West
EDINBURGH
Saturday 6th June 7.30pm
1 House O’Hill Road, EH4 2AJ
I hope you’ll be able to join us for the discussion.
Posted by Faisal Hussein
[...] 2, 2009 by scottishislamic Shaykh Amer Jamil will recommend this week that the talk preceding the Friday sermon needs to be relevant to the issues facing youth and [...]
Maybe Indian and Chinese parents spend more time with their children….maybe Indian and Chinese parents are more concerned with their children’s educations…..instead of having a victim mentality that ‘identity’ is a factor factor in underachievement….ask yourself why dont Chinese or Indians have an ‘identity’ issue…..bottom line is that Indians [Muslim or non Muslim] have integrated into British society..while Muslims continue to play, like yourself, the victim card…..Muslims cant be victims all the time
Dev, there are obvious generalisations in what you say, as any community of immigrants would have identity issues and experience problems like racism. If there is a victim mentality among Muslims, you might provide some specific examples, but when people actually are victimised, whoever they may be, they should not be blamed for drawing attention to that.
Salam.
The following might help shed some light on the issue, inshallah.
Our Imam Problem
(source: http://www.Iqra.ca)
By Muneeb Nasir
The Canadian Muslim community continues to agonize over their religious leaders.
In a recent study done by Karim H. Karim for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, he found that Muslims in Canada and other Western countries “seek religious leadership that can guide them as they navigate spiritual and worldly matters in a knowledgeable and insightful manner. They expect their imam to have not only an intellectually sophisticated understanding of Islamic sources but also a keen appreciation of the Western contexts in which they are living.”
Very recently, the congregation of the main mosque in Ottawa, the Ottawa Muslim Association, has been caught up in a debate around such issues as a result of the choice of a new Imam.
The Imam, who was brought in from Al Azhar University in Egypt, is being criticized by segments of the community for his communication skills, his lack of experience and familiarity with Canadian social conditions.
The debate has become very public with the articles being written in the local press and even eliciting an editorial in the Ottawa Citizen.
The Ottawa Citizen editorial identifies the crux of the community’s wrangling as due to the lack of religious leaders in Muslim institutions who possess both Islamic knowledge and knowledge of the Canadian context.
“While the discussion is ongoing, it has already accomplished some larger good in revealing the absence of western-trained imams. There is, it seems, too few imams who can bridge the gap between scholarly Islam and western society, at least to the satisfaction of ordinary Muslims living in countries like Canada. Non-Muslims, too, ought to be concerned about the inability of Islamic leaders to connect with — or understand — westerners.”
The expectations being placed on Imams are tremendous and put an unreasonable burden on them as they were not trained to handle a complex society and a diverse community.
Karim Karim’s study found that ‘the expectations that adherents have of their leaders have been transformed by not only the circumstances produced by modernity and migration, but also educational and technological advances and globalization.’
Some of the study’s participants even went as far as criticizing their ‘imams’ lack of intellectual capacity to engage with contemporary issues’ and many were ‘frustrated at the lack of “an intellectual Islam” and the overbearing presence of an uninformed emotionalism spouted from the mimbar (pulpit).‘
These complaints have led to proposals and initiatives for training ‘home grown’ Imams, through colleges and universities, or by establishing Muslim seminaries.
While this type of education and training within Canada is needed, I would propose that, given the urgency of the needs and the complexity of life today, a system of religious leadership be developed for including a wider diversity of people to meet the needs of the mosque, whether in delivering the Friday sermons or in providing religious council to members of the community.
A mosque’s religious leadership should be widened to include ‘lay’ Imams (khateebs) who would complement the traditionally trained Imams in delivering sermons, thereby addressing the current weakness of Imams of being able to bridge the gap between Islamic knowledge and Canadian society.
These volunteer khateebs would be professionals and community activists who should have some fundamental knowledge of the religion.
They would possess some of the ‘arts of the Imam’ such as leading prayers and fulfilling the religious requirements of the sermon, but would also have an understanding of the universal objectives of Islam and its moral principles and ethical values.
These khateebs would be expected to have an appreciation of the Canadian context, be intellectually and culturally competent, practically engaged, and skilled in preparing and delivering sermons on contemporary issues and provide moral and ethical perspectives in fluent and topical English.
To a very limited extent, this arrangement exists in some Centres (by default) where there is a system of rotating khateebs, a number of whom possess the abilities and skills outlined above and which they have acquired through their professions and public service activism.
These steps are not meant to undermine the Imam’s knowledge of textual sources or his role in providing guidance with regards to the immutable aspects of Islam (such as the pillars of faith and acts of worship), but to recognize the needs of the community in a world of growing complexity and to include expertise in social and contemporary issues to meet them.
In order to improve the quality of sermons in a mosque, the input of women and men who are experts in their professions should also be sought in elaborating the topics and even in assisting the Imams and khateebs in researching an issue.
In addition, the expertise within a mosque needs to be tapped into and put to use in providing religious guidance to members.
Imams are used to a ‘fatwa driven’ approach in addressing all issues in a community.
Some participants in Karim Karim’s study were disturbed by this approach where ‘simple, even simplistic, answers are presented to resolve complex questions. Issues are often boiled down to the permitted (halal) and the prohibited (haram) in a binary fashion.’
Many of the issues being presented to Imams require the input and expertise of professionals in other fields, such as social workers, therapists, lawyers, educators etc.
These proposals would require some boldness on the part of the mosque leadership and membership as it requires a cooperative approach to the religious guidance and stewardship of a congregation.
However, failure to act decisively on the Imam issue is leading to the further erosion of the authority of religious leaders and the relevance of Islamic knowledge to deal with contemporary issues that Muslims are facing.
References
Karim, Karim H. 2009. “Changing Perceptions of Islamic Authority among Muslims in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.” IRPP Choices 15 (2).
The Ottawa Citizen. April 30, 2009. Editorial: “In search of an imam.” Retrieved May 12, 2009.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Life/search+imam/1547486/story.html
salam ,
unfortunately our muslim parents are not always around
when it concerns their child’s education , most of them do not attend parents evening,nor check homework etc.. if we do not show any interest in our children’s education how do we want them to achieve and be successful. parents need to be more involved in schools,(parents council ), improve communication with teachers and members of staff, have regular progress meetings, attend school regularly and be punctual.
As part of being a muslim education should be our priority , as a key strenght rather than working towards financial and material objectives.
The prophet Mohamed PBUH was our best example we should follow the footsteps in order to achieve the best way in life.
May allah guide us all to the right path
As the daughter of a primary school teacher who teaches a class with a large number of Asians, including Pakistanis / Bangladeshis, she has noticed that the English language skills of these children are sometimes not as good as those of their class mates. This obviously affects their learning in a school where the teaching is done in English. Additionally, she’s noticed (as mentioned in the article) that those children who attend Madrasah are often more tired than their classmates who don’t, and that being taught to write two languages at the same time (one written right to left, and the other left to right) can cause a lot of confusion. Obviously I would not suggest that Muslim children should be taught to speak perfect English from an early age, or should not attend Madrasah, but these things could be impacting on their early education and later achievement.
The primary reason, I believe, why many south asian children underachieve is primarily to do with the the first few generations of immigrant parents. They came to seek work and planned to return back home, many of these immigrants were illeterate, villagers or from working class backgrounds. When they came to the UK their sole intention was to work and send money back home and eventualy plant to return. They did not forsee that their children, born in the UK, would seek to stay.
Their role in their childrens lives has always been limited, especialy since they cannot contribute, help or support their kids studies by participating. This is one of the main reasons as to why the English language is weak, their practice at home is minimal, with parents they correspond in their mother tongue. Children coming from large families with many siblings usualy benefit from being able to communicate in English amongst themselves.
The children grow up with no real help from their parents, but I believe this will change as the generations grow up to become parents and actively become part of their childs education. Both in secular and religious studies, the parents are a lot more well versed and have a better understanding of the wider UK society.
Other communities, including some Chinese, Turkish, Greek or Arab communities have a large number of middle class and educated migrants, thus their children grow up with a lot more educational support.
Same words from me as Ahmad said
I agree with Ahmad. And I have also observed that Indians are more keen in the education of their children when compared to their Pakistani counterparts. Probably because more the number of children lesser would be your attention span.
I have also seen in my neighbourhood that the young Pakistani boys as young as 10 – 12 play around even during night time with no elders around. Where as the others are inside home by night with their parents or going to music or art schools in the weekends.
It is the attention given by the parents that makes the difference,i think