Ever felt that traditional Islamic education may be too rigid for the likes of the young today? Three entrepreneurial-minded founders from Malaysia put their heads together and agreed. Transforming the stereotypical teacher-student relationship, Syahrul Zaman Shahril, Mohammed Salleh Fadzil and Zul-Atfi Mustafa decided to form their own educational hub relating to Islamic teaching. Considering the amount of negative influence swarming the web, the trio felt that children needed a positive distraction, even from non-internet channels such as the television.
They created IslamKids.media (IslamKids), a website designed to cater to children below the age of 12. They found a global rather than local niche and strived to create a system that appeals to Muslims accross the world. And what better way to counter such a global demand than by launching an internet application, which has the potential of being accessed by millions of young children worldwide? The portal was launched end of 2009. |
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There are plenty of portals furnished with mountains of educational information for children, such as PBSKids and NickJr. Of course, the significant difference between these two and the one created by IslamKids is the fact that this Malaysian company was looking directly at creating Islamic content that cannot be found elsewhere—yet maintaining a high-quality of creativity, animation, and fun and engaging characters and stories that children love.
Creating a Business Family as the Basis of Success
The three main founders are trained business professionals with a variety of experiences to their name, so they pooled the talent they needed for this project. With that, they looked into creating a knowledge-based workforce with graphic designers, story board directors, script writers and content developers. With a talented family in place, the team decided to respond to the dire need for providing quality educational services to young Muslim children. Albeit small, the team works as a closely knit family much the like the sub-sets of NickJr and have a creative air to their office.
Obviously, education and profits do not necessarily go hand in hand when it comes to Islam. But bearing in mind the bigger picture of fruitful endeavours, including starting their own kindergarten franchise and print media, IslamKids is focused on building communities that can access and appreciate their love for education.
What is more, with their differentiating model, children who are more inclined towards the internet and multimedia would automatically tune in to this new form of education.
Targeting Families as the Cornerstone of a Strong Muslim Society
IslamKids targets children through three different products, catering to a wide range of age-group.
Baby Khalifah is geared towards infants and toddlers below the age of four. Little Khalifah introduces modules that are suitable for children aged between five and nine. And finally, Young Khalifah delves into the minds of the pre-adolescent youth aged between ten and twelve. Playing upon the concept of ‘Khalifah’ all three modules are modeled around the innate importance of mankind being the rightful Caliph or Guardian of the earth, with the use of the human brain as an important asset in doing so. |
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Of course by targeting children, IslamKids has widened their target market to influence parents to relate positive thoughts towards education via a portal. Though many families thrive on the internet, more conservative Muslims would view this new method of teaching as a folly.
Fortunately, the content of each product and their subsequent modules hold true to the teachings of Islam, thanks to a strong consultative panel of Muslim scholars. In the end of course, the responsibility of educating the young rests upon the shoulders of parents and, thus, the decision as to whether to subscribe to such a service of not is left to the discretion of each child’s guardian.
Reaching out to the International Muslim Community
The boundless internet allows access to IslamKid’s educational modules worldwide. The site’s even wider appeal is that the syllabus is written solely in English, making it truly universally accessible.
Right: The Portal allows for 9 different ethnic costumes. Here the American and Indian versions are shown.
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With Muslims living across the globe and many in countries where there is a grave gap of quality Islamic education, IslamKids looks like the most efficient method of education as far as these parents are concerned. There is no doubt that there will be nuances of uncertainty as to whether the subscription to such a programme would be feasible or even worth the trouble, but for those who take the step to joining such a portal or even welcome the idea of a multimedia Islamic facet into the home, the IslamKids product-line could just be a God-send.
What is more, with the current trend of homeschooling interest, parents will be able to further grasp the concept of self-education with children independently learning about Islam through just a few clicks of the mouse.
Networking is nothing new for netters and vice versa. IslamKids has a long term vision of seeing global communiites come together within their portal. Parents would be able to discuss educational issues and concerns amongst themselves and children would be able to befriend their Muslim classmates living in different continents by just becoming a staunch member of this portal.
In lieu of the knowledge-based economy Malaysia has been harbouring for the past 10 years, IslamKids is at its peak in exploiting all multimedia resources to be able further communicate their visions for Islamic communities through education. IslamKids is looking to provide content that is indifferent to gender, culture or nationality. They have decided to carry a universal message of exploration and discovery as a core objective of their educational content.
With Vision Comes Responsibility
Education, being the frontier of success for any Muslim, has always been a concern in Islamic communities. IslamKids has focused on building awareness about the importance of the caliphship of the earth for every human being. Muslims tend to forget that responsibility and what better way to instil such a value than by targetting children who are innocent and void of prejudice.
The idea of families coming together and building online communities stem from the vast amount of networking services on the internet. And with education as the core, only benefits of such a community can be seen in the long run, in hopes that unity and harmony will also come into play.
There are no two ways around Islamic education and IslamKids has compiled a strong team of content developers to a professional consultative panel who will help pave the way for them to achieve their mission in the future.
Key Learnings: |
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Traditional Islamic education has been forced to take a turning point with the advent of technology and the spawning interest children have in the internet. |
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Though skeptics may criticise a move to use multimedia as a form of education, the long term benefits of having an interactive educational portal based on Islamic values outweigh the evils of distraction – IslamKids has found support amongst scholars themselves who see Islamic education in this new light. |
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Bridging gaps across Muslim communities is one of the long term visions of IslamKids whereby their portal will be able to garner keen support amongst Muslims and allow the communities themselves to set aside their differences for the sake of educating the young. |
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