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161007P - STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

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Presented at the MSA workshop Hong Kong on October 7-8, 2016 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)


IMPORTANCE OF STUDENT WORK:

  • Students are a very important segment of society. They are intellectually alive, are dynamic, idealistic, and can afford the luxury of looking at issues without being under the pressure of being in the field. 
  • Skills and convictions acquired by students are a valuable investment for future community leadership. 
  • Work among students helps not only to identify potential leaders but also to train and promote their leadership potential. 
  • Ibn Abbas and Abuhuraira’s student career and future academic leadership

CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS:

  • Idealism that energizes them or leads to apathy when they realize the imperfections of the real world
  • Openness to all ideas and experiences: good or bad
  • Decisiveness in selection among alternative ideas or experiences
  • Strong commitment to what they are convinced about e.g. football, music, etc.
  • Tendency to take extreme positions that lead them into many troubles. 

BALANCE IN STUDENT LIVES:

  • Students have a wide range of issues that affect them both inside and outside the institution. 
  • A balance needs to be established between social activism and academic achievement. 
  • Students should never forget that the main purpose is to learn and study. 
  • Student extracurricular activities should never interfere with studies. 
  • Students have to be good students first before they are anything else!

CHALLENGES FOR STUDENTS (MANZOOR ALAM): 

  • Academic, ideological, and cultural challenges.
  • Ummatic issues: economic development, human and political rights. 
  • Duality in the education system and cultural experiences: traditional vs modern
  • Awareness of the science and technology gap between the ummat and the industrialized world but their education did not equip them to address it
  • Many ‘isms’ daily in the mass media.

ROLE OF STUDENTS:

  • Integration of knowledge
  • Transmission of the heritage to the next generation
  • Intellectual analysis and providing solutions
  • Acquiring practical skills to succeed in an increasingly high-tech society.

FUNCTIONS OF STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 1: 

  • Social and dawa programs on-campus and off-campus
  • Programs for students on the campus: worship, tarbiyat and training, academic support, entertainment, career or study counseling, counseling on social life, protection of Muslim student interests, and dawa. 
  • MSA should receive and initiate new students on arrival or if possible, even before coming to the University or college. 

FUNCTIONS OF STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS 2: 

  • Routine activities of MSA include: lectures, question forums, study groups, competitions, projects, drama, exhibitions, visits to hospitals, charitable visits, Islamic newsletter/magazine, video shows, practical demonstrations. 
  • The halaqa (study circle) type of education is the best for students to learn Islam. 
  • A specific plan must be followed to ensure that there is continuous and balanced tarbiyat all through the course of study at the university.