7 things Madrasah-Polytechnic students can relate to

Madrasah (مدرسة‎): It means 'school' in Arabic. A term used in many countries for Islamic religious schools. In Singapore, madrasahs are considered as private schools. Male students wear long pants, collared shirt and songkok (cap). Female students wear long dress/baju kurung/pant suit and tudung (headgear).

1. Culture Shock
   This is the most common of all. 
   Most of us madrasah students will surely experience this if they choose to go 'academic' afterwards. The worst is usually during the orientation days; the kind of games they host, the level of entertainment, the deafening audios, and such. The atmosphere is just too unusual and..... Odd?
   
   Just FYI, in madrasah, males and females are segregated when playing games. We do not have body or skin contact with the opposite gender. The amount of entertainment is kept to a minimal and no, we do not blast loud music during events. Only soothing songs, instrumentals or nasyids/qasidahs (spiritual songs) will be played.

2. Sneak out of lecture to pray
   This is challenging. We used to be connected to the masjid (mosque) or musolla (a space to pray) 24/7. We could even hear the adzan (call to prayer) and will proceed for prayers immediately. Its a routine that has been practiced for years, since the age of 7 (yes we study in madrasah for 10 - 11 years since primary 1).
   Fun Facts: Madrasah used to have kindergartens as well back in the 90's.
   
   In polytechnic, we need to find our own space and time to pray. If our schedule collides with the prayer time, we have no choice but to sneak out of lecture and rush for prayers. BUT YAAAY most of the schools now are musolla-ready. They even provide us with the necessities. Many thanks to the people/management who initiated this - you guys have made our lives a lot easier!
   
   
3. Not sports-inclined
   Well, this does not really apply to the guys unless they too, got asked questions like
   "Do you have CCA/sports in madrasah?"
   
   As for the ladies, we often get questions about headgear and long pants.
   "Don't you feel hot?" "Isn't it uncomfortable to run around in those?" "How do you go for a swim then?" Alright chill, let me give some enlightenment.
   
   Firstly, yes we do have sports and CCAs in madrasah.
   Regarding the hot issue, we feel hot at times but we are used to it so yeah no worries we are cool.
   Comfort? Frankly speaking, we do not see any huge difference between wearing shorts and pants.
   How do we swim? Have you ever heard of 'muslimah swimming gear'? Yeah, we rock that thing in the pool. Its pretty vogue y'know? Maybe you should get one too. ;)
   
   
4. The urge to converse in Malay
   Madrasah is flooded with Malay students, so we converse in Malay 99% of the time. Honestly, it does feels a bit weird to have a mixture of races in class (polytechnic). In madrasah, we tend to speak Malay even during English lessons hahaha. It became a habit. Our teacher then jokingly came up with this cute punishment - pay 10 cents for every Malay word uttered. Lol.
   
   But wait, we do enjoy picking up Mandarin words from our Chinese friends and trade them with Malay words. Win-win situation! That's the beauty of being in a multi-racial country yes? Definitely.
   
   
5. Being labelled as malaikat (angel)
   The way you introduce yourself to a new friend is important in this context. They will surely have another impression of you the moment you mention 'madrasah'.
   
   We are getting used to people labeling us 'angels'. Yes apparently we madrasah students do not sin at all. Thank you but you are being too nice we can't handle. (please sense the big sarcasm here)
   
   
6. Education stream confusion (express, normal academic or normal technical)
   During freshmen year, one of the frequently asked questions is "are you 17 or 18 years old?" And when you say 18, BAAAM they will confirm plus chop thought that you took N levels & had to go to secondary 5.
   
   Okay understood cos that's how the system works. But not for us though. It is actually compulsory for some madrasahs to do an extra year of curriculum (hence sec 5) as we have to sit for STE (a big exam by MUIS in Arabic/religious subjects) in secondary 4. It might be too taxing for us to do both STE and O levels in the same year. We do not practice education streams.
   
   
7. We do not have friends of the opposite gender
   This is the funniest of all. Come on. Living in this cosmopolitan era, how could one not have any friend from the opposite gender? With the presence of social networks and all............
   You get me right?!
   
   So anyways, 4 out of 6 madrasahs take in both male and female students. We behave like normal kids, study the same subjects (with additional religious subjects) and are friends with everyone! I am not sure about secular schools but we were trained to be well-mannered and dress modestly.
   But apart from those, we are no aliens. Just normal human beings. 

Disclaimer: All the points above are purely based on my own experiences/opinions, supported by a number of friends who have mutual thoughts regarding this. 

Kalam Apps on Berita Minggu (4th May 2014)

LATEST UPDATE 

THIS APP IS NO LONGER IN USE. REDIRECTED TO PRAYERTIME.SG FOR BETTER MAINTENANCE AND INTERFACE. AVAILABLE ON BOTH APPLE AND ANDROID DEVICES.

- 3RD JULY 2016

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“…And If you would count the blessings of Allah you would not be able to count them…” [14:34]

 

PELAJAR POLY HASIL APLIKASI CARI MUSALA

Pengguna telefon bijak Android boleh muat turun Musolla Mall SG secara percuma

> Juliana Sharmine Riduan

jriduan@sph.com.sg

TIDAK tahu di mana boleh menunaikan solat ketika membeli-belah?
Kini, mencari tempat solat menjadi lebih mudah dengan bantuan aplikasi Musolla Mall SG, yang tidak memerlukan Wi-Fi atau sambungan Internet.

Aplikasi itu menyediakan - secara percuma - maklumat mengenai lokasi musala di pusat beli-belah atua tempat berdekatan.

Ia dihasilkan bersama oleh dua pelajar politeknik yang juga lulusan Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah, Cik Nur Syazreema Sazari dan Cik Rufaidah Mohd Kamal.

Mereka melancarkan aplikasi Musolla Mall SG, di bawah nama pena Kalam Apps, bagi pengguna telefon bijak yang menggunakan sistem Android, baru-baru ini.

Selain menyatakan lokasi musala di Singapura, aplikasi tersebut menyediakan maklumat terperinci mengenai aras, kelengkapan solat seperti tandas atau tempat wuduk berdekatan dan jumlah jemaah yang boleh ditampung sesebuah musala.

Cik Nur Syazreema dan Cik Rufaidah, kedua-duanya berumur 20 tahun, melakar rancangan menghasilkan aplikasi tersebut lebih sebulan lalu.

"Kami ingin menghasilkan satu aplikasi yang dapat membantu masyarakat Islam di Singapura," kata Cik Syazreema, pelajar tahun akhir jurusan Perusahaan Bisnes dan Teknologi  Maklumat Politeknik Nanyang.

Menurut Cik Rufaidah, pelajar tahun akhir perbankan dan perkhidmatan kewangan Politeknik Singapura, idea menghasilkan aplikasi itu tercetus setelah beliau mengikuti bengkel Android 101 Kelab Mendaki selama tiga hari.

Dalam bengkel intensif itu, beliau belajar mengenai perisian yang perlu digunakan dan kemudian meneroka cara penghasilan aplikasi pelbagai halaman dan fungsi.

Namun, mereka tidak menghasilkan aplikasi tersebut dengan sekelip mata kerana mereka tidak ada kemahiran dalam bidang tersebut.

Untuk menghasilkan senarai musala, mereka bukan sahaja mengumpulkan senarai musala daripada pelbagai laman Internet sahaja, malah menjelajah beberapa tempat serata Singapura untuk mengemas kini senarai tersebut.

"Kami juga melawat tempat-tempat seram semata-mata untuk memastikan adanya musala di sana,'' kata Cik Syazreema sambil tertawa.

Mereka berharap agar sentiasa dapat mengemas kini senarai lokasi musala itu.

Buat masa ini 2,000 pengguna telah memuat turun aplikasi tersebut.

Mereka yang ingin menyumbang kepada senarai musala dalam aplikasi tersebut boleh e-melkan lokasi musala kepada kalamapps@gmail.com.

Mereka merancang mengubah nama aplikasi itu kepada alMusolla SG memandangkan ia bakal menyenaraikan beberapa musala yang terdapat di politeknik dan universiti.

Kalam Apps akan juga berusaha menghasilkan aplikasi tersebut bagi pengguna telefon bijak iPhone.

THANKS JULIANA FOR THE WONDERFUL ARTICLE :D

DARE TO DREAM BIG

Hi all. Peace be upon you readers. :')

Being a tertiary student is different from being in a secondary school, from all aspects. The guidance you got from your teachers, the level of care, the amount of love and yeah... I can go on and on. Went to visit my primary and secondary school teachers recently and it makes me miss my life there even more. Like what people always say, "YOU WILL ONLY MISS SOMETHING ONCE ITS GONE" Straight to my face lah guys. T.T

So, I actually went to greet my former (hate to us this word actually 'cos to me, my teachers will always be my teachers but, just to avoid confusion thus the word's usage) teachers from madrasah with a few friends last week to give them the special cupcakes as a token of appreciation, also as a remembrance. The smiles drawn on their faces upon seeing us were all worth it. I can say that they seem happy with how we've turned out to be now. We received a few cute responses from them too...

"Whoa you guys still remember us. Come lah visit us more often, everyday also can!"

"Did you girls baked these cupcakes? Hehehe"

"One cupcake only? That will be gone in no time! Hahaha"

Hahaha my teachers are all pretty much like-able and I am glad that we actually stepped forward to plan something for the teachers, representing our cohort. I hope that this tradition will continue as years pass by. And I'm happy to say that this is by far our 2nd year doing this. :') *tears of accomplishment*

---------- ---------- ----------

"When you want to succeed in life, as bad as you want to breathe you will be successful."

As we grow older, I guess we need to think forward and plan ahead. But sometimes we fail to do so due to the busy schedules and the dashing routine we face daily. We're too occupied with the never-ending-school-stuff and whatnot... which left us with no space. PITIFUL.

Well, I've ways wanted to do my own business and I believe it's not impossible to start NOW. It doesn't matter what kind of business you're fond at, as long as you have the determination and passion with a specific plan, Insya Allah all will be well. I've experienced a couple of small-businesses, but one is sadly extinct a year back. What I'm referring to is the 'Bukharalites Muslimah Kendarat' company which used to be led by Munira and me. We even had our own name cards and our weekends used to be packed with wedding events. My phone won't stop ringing as people keep enquiring about our small company. I can say that we were doing quite well as starters. Moreover, we started this when we were only 15. Unfortunately, it only lasts for about 4 years due to our team members' personal commitments and stuff. Plus, Munira and me are also busy with school and we thought that we should really focus and adapt to our new school  that time.

Currently, I'm having this baking affair. Have you heard of 'Ghurabakes'? Yes, we actually bake those sweet treats and promote them on instagram. Established in January 2013, I can also say that we are doing well than expected. But, also, due to school and stuff, we can't afford to bake on a daily basis, even monthly. We will take orders only during our free time. We kind of treat this as a hobby, also a channel to gain some side income. Also, through baking, our friendship becomes stronger. Friendship? Ya, ghurabakes consists of 4 people including me and we became even closer with the presence of Ghurabakes. :')
Follow us on Instagram: @ghurabakes

Apart from those mentioned above, I intend to invest on other things. The plan is there but the excution part....errrmmmm x_x. Plus, my business partner, Ruffy is super creative when it comes to business planning and I seriously hope that at least one of the plans will be executed soon. Insya Allah. The only problem is that we don't really own a large capital to start it off by ourselves. But we will work towards it for sure :')

When I came to visit my secondary school last week, Mdm B actually asked about this:-
"Syazreema, what kind of business do you intend to do?"

.....and I couldn't really give her a concrete answer. :(