Having a single timetable for all students

Our tried and tested practice at Safar Academy has been to hold the same lessons at the same time for all students in the maktab (institute) – except for Book 1 (Year 1) students aged 5-6 who, being young learners, follow their own timetable. So, for example, when we teach Islamic Studies, all students will be studying Islamic Studies in their individual classes throughout the maktab. This is also the case for Qurʾān and Tajwīd as well as for Duʿāʾs and Sūrahs.

There are a number of benefits of this:

• If students need to sit in different classes, age groups, or they need to be moved to a different teacher, it is much easily managed when they are all learning the same subject.
• If you are using any of our preferred teaching procedures, having everyone learning the same subject ensures you are able to use the teaching procedure effectively. For example, if you are using the ḥalaqah based teaching and testing method for Duʿāʾs and Sūrahs, the admin staff and test takers can easily manage the testing and record keeping of students when everyone is covering the same subject at the same time.
• If there are unexpected teacher absences, you can ensure there is enough cover between the teachers so students do not lose out on learning time.
• Sometimes additional teachers can aid in managing students where teaching is happening collectively. For example, if all students are learning Duʿāʾs and Sūrahs in a large space, teachers can manage not only their classes but help manage other classes and ḥalaqahs too.