Move to better reintegrate Haafith pupils

A GROUNDBREAKING memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) will aim to better reintegrate Muslim pupils who attended Haafith schools back into secular schools.

Hundreds of pupils spend three to four years at Haafith schools in order to memorise the Qur’an.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said all learners exiting Haafith schools would be subject to the WCED’s online diagnostic testing to assess in which grade the learner should be placed.

“The WCED was concerned that many learners of compulsory schoolgoing age were exiting registered independent and public schools in order to attend Haafith schools and when they came back into the public school system, the WCED could not account for the missing years in the academic life of these learners.

“As part of the MOU, parents can apply for an exemption from compulsory education and the learners can then attend support classes offered by the MJC for English, maths and natural sciences while attending Haafith schools.

‘The MJC will also put structures in place to ensure all Haafith schools in the Western Cape comply with specific regulatory prescripts, which include regulations pertaining to buildings, municipal by-laws and health conditions,” said Hammond.

MJC second-deputy president Riad Fataar said the process was about protecting children’s right to education.

“This is something we’ve been longing for for the past years and we appreciate that the WCED has finally met our demands. A child will now be able to automatically be on the WCED system after finishing memorising the Qur’an and not left behind in the school syllabus,” he said. “We’ve set up classes for children on Saturdays with registered teachers who teach them English, maths and natural sciences. This is something of a landmark, we have input from different private schools.”