The Glory of Ramadan

Wednesday November 3rd 2021

The Glory of Ramadan is a virtual event held by Al Azhar 55 Islamic Primary School as part of the Ramadan activities on 11-12 Ramadhan 1442 H which coincided with 23-24 April 2021. It was attended by students from grades 1 to 5. Even though virtual, the students enthusiastically participated. Each grade got their own challenges related to Islamic good deeds. Grade 1 got a challenge to do 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting and memorize Surah An Nas to Surah Al Zalzalah. Meanwhile, Grade 2 got a challenge to memorize Surah An Nas to Surah Asy Syam and carry out Dhuha prayer. A Musabaqah Hifdzil Qur’an (MHQ) in each class signed the end of the memorization challenge. Grades 3 to 5 got the challenge to wake their friends up to perform the midnight prayer.

This is called “Tahajud Challenge”. Apart from getting this challenge, grades 3 to grade 5 were also challenged to memorize surahs: An Nas to Al Ghasyiyah for grade 3, An Nas to At Takwir for grade 4, and An Nas to An Naba for grade 5.

The main event was a talk show with the theme ‘Ramadan around The World’. There were 4 speakers from 4 different countries, namely Ms Erlin from Morocco, Ms Lami from Melbourne, Ms Betty from Germany, and Mr Heru from Japan. The four speakers shared stories about how to do Ramadan fasting in the country they are living in-where Muslims are a minority, which is of course different from doing it in Indonesia, especially during this pandemic. Apart from that, the speakers also talked about traditions and traditional foods that are commonly found during Ramadan.

This talk show was aimed at getting students to know the challenges faced by Muslims in other parts of the world in fasting so as to make them grateful in being able to do it quite easily in Indonesia where Muslims are a majority.

Aside from the talk show, there were other complementary activities such as decorating calligraphy with natural objects, virtual ifthar, tadarus after taraweh prayers, virtual sahoor for grades 3, 4 and 5, and muroja’ah after subuh as a closing. By participating in the whole event, it is hoped that students take advantage of this month of Ramadan with positive and meaningful activities, so as to make them able to worship faithfully. See you at the Ramadan Festival next year.

Testimony

Prof. Dra. Hj. Suwarsih Madya, M.A., Ph.D.

Amidst the globalized situation which poses challenges of which one is a possible threat to identity, yet provides ample opportunities to excel for those who possess the prerequisites, we need to equip our children as the continuing generation with necessary competencies—affective, cognitive, psychomotor and interactive. In other words, we need to help them grow and develop into total persons and this can be achieved through the whole-child development approach which ensures the development of all potentials. In addition to this is the need for developing some competence which enables the children to communicate globally. All of this will ensure that the children will develop their citizenships both at the national and global levels. How can this ideal development be realized?

If you want to find out about how efforts are made to develop children’s whole potentials, you can come to SD Islam Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta. Here you can see how the four-year old school has grown fast due to the stakeholders’ trust to send their children to study here. With only 54 children in the first year, this school now has 185 students. These students are educated to respect and preserve the social-cultural environment by learning the local language (Javanese, including the script) and arts (dance). Simultaneously, they certainly learn the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) and national content, which is unquestionable since it is compulsory, and English, which has now become a global lingua franca; thus, a prerequisite for successful global communication. More importantly, children in this school also learn to practise their religion consistently. So, in this school children’s identity is rooted in the local culture, with nationalism and global awareness being inherently developed together with reliogiosity.

Does the whole-child development approach at SD Islam Al Azhar still give room for children to excel? In my belief, when all their potentials are developed, children will have a greater chance to excel and I can see the truth in my belief in this primary school. In the last two years, the students have made great achievements in various competitions held at the local and national levels–gold medals in English, math and science competitions (national), silver and bronze medals in IT competitions (national), silver and bronze medals at colouring and swimming competitions (local) to mention some.

In conclusion, SD Islam Al Azhar has given evidence of the right efforts of true education to develop both intelligence and character.

Prof. DR. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.

Testimoni Sebagai Orang tua menyekolahkan anak Di Al-Azhar 55

Sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi orang tua untuk memberikan pendidikan yang terbaik bagi putra putrinya. Tantangan untuk mendidik anak di Era Global dan Digital pun semakin besar, kita tidak bisa lagi membendung segala perubahan yang begitu cepat terjadi, dan harus mempersiapkan anak-anak supaya bisa survive dan sholeh/sholehah tentunya. Saat ini dunia bagaikan kampung, dimana tidak ada batas-batas untuk melakukan transaksi kehidupan, untuk itu anak harus bisa berkomunikasi dengan bahasa universal sebagai modal utama. Disamping itu, pendidikah Ahlak dan Aqidah harus diberikan secara dini sebagai dasar anak dalam menghadapi gejolak gelombang kehidupan. Atas pertimbangan tersebutlah, kami selaku orang tua memilih untuk menyekolahkan putra kami tercinta Hikari di Sekolah Islam, yang menggunakan dua bahasa pengantar, yaitu Al-Azhar 55.

Prof. DR. Budi S.Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.