Published in Jamaat Newsletter, 24 July 1983 Issue
OUR RELIGIOUS SCHOOL SYSTEM

In 1974 a young man, member of this community, saw the urgency of a need for a madressah to teach our children religious education.  So he took upon himself to do just that.  In a room of a family apartment situated at the corner of Brimely and Eglinton Avenue, in the east end of Toronto, he started a classroom.  This young man's name is Nusarat Jaffer.  Nusarat together with another young man by name of Firoz Nasser worked together to teach a few children of our community religious education.  As the attendance increased, Mrs Sultana Sherally joined the small teaching staff to cater primarily to teaching our young girls.
 
From what we see around us today it is hard to imagine that our school system had such a humble beginning. Nusarat Jaffer was soon convinced, due to positive response from concerned parents, that his earlier assessment of a need for a religious school was well-founded.  As more children joined his small school, he faced problems from his neighbours.  In search for alternative venue, he approached David & Mary Thompson School for use of their class rooms every Sunday.
 
Al though the School conveyed its willingness to accommodate Nusarat, they insisted that they would only let him use the school if he was represented and backed by an institution.  At that time, there was a defunct institution called the Shia Study Circle which was formed by some members of the community to enhance religious education to family units but failed to go any place.  Nusarat approached some of the founding members of that institution and asked if he could use their name on application form to the school. The permission was given and Nusarat was on his way to move his classes from his apartment to David & Mary Thompson School in Scarborough.  As for the name "The Shia Study Circle", it is still the official name of the East-end school.
 
Nusarat Jaffer, Firoz Nasser and Mrs. Sultana Sherally took the initial burden of teaching our children. Abdulaziz Sachedina helped with selection of courses and approved text books for teaching purposes.  In fact, Nusarat Jaffer, after having moved the classes to the school, worked in close consultation with Abdulaziz Sachedina.  The teaching staff was soon joined by Aliraza Nanji.
 
In about 1976, when Nusrat Jaffer moved to Edmonton, Aliraza Nanji took over as head of Shia Study Circle and more and more children joined the school and with that the teaching staff was increased.
 
At about this time, the members of the community decided that another school be formed and be located in the west-end of the city to cater to the children who lived in that side of the city.  Under chairmanship of Yusuf Dattu, with Kauser Ladha as Principal, a west-end school was formed. The latter was succeeded by Sheni Fazal.
 
In 1977, Aliraza Nanji returned to Kenya, and he asked Mohamedtaki Walji Mohamed to take over as the head of the Shia Study Circle.  In order to maintain continuity, Mohamedtaki formed a school committee to help him run the school with Firoz Nasser, one of the founding members, as Secretary and four other committee members.  Children were graded by their ages and efforts were made to prepare courses suitable for children of various ages.  Mohamedtaki's experience at running an Ithna-asheri Union nursery school in Dar es Salaam was of immense value in placing our school on a higher plateau.
 
The west-end school, whilst having learnt from the experiences of the Shia Study Circle, managed and ran its classes independently under good leadership provided by Yusuf Dattu and Sheni Fazal with a staff of dedicated teachers.  Yusuf Dattu was succeeded by Dr. Mohamed D. Mohamed and Sharafali Lakdawalla replaced Sheni Fazal as principal of the school.
 
At about the same time, Anver Chagani succeeded Mohamedtaki Mohamed as the principal and head of the Shia Study Circle.  By this time, both schools had reached a plateau from which they had to evolve.  Official syllabuses were being prepared by both schools independent of each other.  The Shia Study Circle went even further to hold its first Teachers' Workshop which formed as a basis of future teachers' training programmes. In addition, they formed the first Teachers' Guide to enable the teachers to function more efficiently.  The two schools saw the need of common syllabus and therefore, formed the Joint Committee which comprised of Anwer Chagani, Kassamali Lakhani, Sheni Fazal and Nisar Sherally to come up with common syllabus for both schools before July 31st, 1979.
 
The school system was definitely here to stay - alive, vibrant and progressive beyond anyone's imagination.  In order to coordinate the education system under one roof, the Jamaat felt the need of direct involvement.  According to records available to me, the first such effort took place in May of 1979 under Mahmood Karim, who at the time was a Chairman of the Jamaat's Education Committee. Prior to that, the first attempt towards unification of the schools under Jamaat's umbrella was made by the then President of the Jamaat, Raza Sumar.  He was succeeded by Ghulam Sajan who pursued on the same course to its fruition.  Both schools were put under Education Council which was made up of three representatives from each school under the chairmanship of a representative of the Jamaat. The schools were allowed and they enjoyed, and still do, the same autonomy as they had when they were on their own.
 
Mohamed Takim returned to Tanzania and Mahmud Dewji succeeded him who to date is still the Principal of the Shia Study Circle.  Mahmud is supported by a committee of five members on the executive side and a team of twenty three teachers.  The school has 210 registered students.  The west-end school was dissolved in order to make a transition under the leadership of Sheni Fazal who is supported by a committee of five members who are all teachers in addition to five other teachers.
 
Our school system has come a long way from its humble beginning in 1974.  As mentioned earlier, in addition to the 210 students registered in the east-end school, there are also 60 students registered at the centre school.  The school system has achieved a lot and there is a lot more to achieve.  The spirit is there, the effort is there, the workers are there and are getting better with training and experience.  The achievement over the next decade, will be even greater.
 
In writing this short history of our school system, effort has been made to remain faithful to events and personalities.  However, in the absence of any community archives, there is a great possibility of having overlooked certain important events and of having omitted certain people's contribution to the system's overall growth.  If so, the writer begs to apologise for such omission.
 
BY SALIM SACHEDINA-
July, 1983
CHAIRMAN, MADRESSAH SUB-COMMITTEE.

THEN	NOW

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