Islamic Center of Ewing Weekend School Overview
The Islamic Center of Ewing hosts a robust weekend school held from October to June of each year. Under the direction of Imam Qareeb Bashir, our school has become an amazing opportunity for Muslim students from the area to learn and grow in their Islamic understanding. In addition, students have fostered relationships with the community, their teachers, and peers over the years that has resulted in their return as staff as young adults. We are extremely grateful to be a part of such a special weekend program that meets the needs of the community, however it is certainly not without the hard work and dedication of a great many people.
Staff / Volunteers
In addition to the imam, our team consists of approximately 8 -10 dedicated staff/teachers, 2 administrative personnel, and 4 volunteers. Teachers come from a variety of different backgrounds and professions. They provide students with a consistent and focused curriculum tailored to each age range and include class activities, projects, and homework as a part of their teaching methodology. Many of our teachers contribute their own teaching tools to supplement students who are in need, and all of our teachers are volunteers seeking only the compensation of Allah. However, our hope and belief is that our volunteer staff should receive at a minimum the cost of gas/travel expenses. Unfortunately, we currently do not generate enough funds to achieve this goal.
Students
We have approximately 60 registered students. Each week, the weekend school hosts or have in attendance between 45-55 students coming from all parts of Ewing, Trenton, and surrounding areas. Some of our students walk, carpool, or use public transportation to attend class on Sundays. They range in age from 5-18 years old and come from varying levels of Islamic practice at home. Much of our student population come to us from homes where one or both of the parents have recently become Muslim, and some have little-to-no knowledge of Islam. In one such instance, a 15 year old student of parents who had recently begun practicing arrived knowing nothing about Islam. Within only a few short months, he had memorized and was able to recite Suratul Fatiha, and was able to make salaat with very little additional instruction.
Curriculum
The curriculum consists of a rotating combination of Islamic Morals and Manners, Qur’an, Arabic, as well as Wudu & Salaat. Additionally, we include frequent discussion on matters relevant to the current environment including micro (school and community) and macro (world) social issues. We use the Islamic Studies Weekend Learning Series, Qur’an Short Surahs, and How to Pray as our primary learning texts. Students receive these texts after registering and attending class in the first few weeks, and are given the books upon completion of the school year. We are also looking to add Islamic Tahdhib and Akhlaq to the classes of our older students as we believe they are old enough to benefit significantly from higher order thinking in Islamic theory and practice as well as Aqidah.
Lunch
Our amazing group of volunteers include a kitchen staff that come in early and prepare a variety of different lunch options for our students. Lunches consist of items such as pasta, sandwiches, hotdogs, chicken tenders, french fries, and pizza. The vast majority of our students do not bring their own lunch and (both students and their parents) rely solely upon the lunch provided by the Weekend School. Additionally, no student ever pays for the lunch they receive from the school. Lunch items are purchased by the school using tuition fees, however since a large portion of our student population cannot afford these fees, much of the cost is supplemented by donors or absorbed by the Islamic Center of Ewing.
Tuition
Our tuition breakdown for 2024 - 2025 as follows:
Although we feel our fees are affordable considering what we provide, many of our students are unable to pay these fees on a monthly basis. In many instances, we simply ask for parents to contribute what they are able, and community members sometimes donate scholarships that supplement the cost of one student per month or year as they are able. For the remainder of the students whose families have such financial hardship that they cannot pay, the Islamic Center of Ewing absorbs the cost of their books and fees, etc.
As the Imam, my position is that I will not turn away anyone who are sincerely seeking an Islamic education for their children.
The Result
Students who matriculate through our program have gone on to a variety of colleges, in and around the New Jersey area, and have continued on a prominent career path in their day-to-day lives. While we are proud of that, we are most proud to say that some of them have returned back to the Islamic Center of Ewing Weekend School as teachers and volunteers. Two of our current Arabic teachers are former students that attended this school, and they currently have siblings still in attendance. It is this legacy of giving back to the community, and serving the needs of the youth that we hope to foster in our students. We recognize that many of them may not receive elsewhere, the kind of spiritual education, upliftment and religious foundation that they receive from our school and we take our job very seriously. It is our hope and prayers that as our students grow, they will be able to draw upon the Islamic principles they have learned in our school to become thriving, empathetic, discerning Muslims who can raise their voices and make good change in the society of the future.