Idāra al-Tāʾdīb wa al-Riyāḍa: Fostering Personality Development

Fatimi philosophy stresses that education should necessarily instil moral virtue and refine character. Maintaining a balance between compassion and discipline, the department guides students towards behaving in accordance with values learnt in class.

Senior academic staff are appointed as mūʾaddibs (counsellors), each of whom is responsible for a group of approximately fifteen students. Each group consists of students from all the stages of Aljamea, thereby, forming a support group in which senior students help their younger counterparts in academic, as well as personal, matters.

Every Saturday, students have a scheduled interaction with their mūʾaddib, although they may meet throughout the week for individual consults as and when required. Issues discussed during this session pertain to twenty-three attributes of student personality development outlined by Shahzada Dr. Yusuf Najmuddin ^QR, the late rector of the Academy. They include aspects such as appearance, expenditure, demeanour, time utilisation, hobbies, thinking skills and overall compliance with the rules and regulations of Aljamea. Each broad area of assessment contains a number of subcategories all formulated upon values, ideals and character traits described and valued in Fatimi texts.

Such engagement with character development ensures that academic performance is not the only criterion for measuring student progress. Spanning all stages of Aljamea and including students of all ages, it is through such supervision and guidance that well-rounded student development is pursued.