Press Release - 30 April 2008

Madrassa Pupils Celebrate Achievements

A host of Bradford Madrassas will collect literary prizes this weekend (Saturday 3 May) for their award-winning Madrassas Children’s Literacy Project entries.

The competition - designed to further strengthen the partnership and improve communication between Madrassa and mainstream schools - was launched by local social enterprise company Quest for Economic Development (QED) in 2007. In total over 15 Madrassa Islamic Schools, partnered with 45 mainstream schools, took part.

"The aim of the competition was to get pupils to think about how their school and Madrassa could work together in order to improve education for all." said Mohammed Ali OBE, Chief Executive of QED-UK.

To enter Bradford pupils had to write a 300 word essay answering the question 'How could your school and Madrassa work better together so that you are successful at both?'

QED will be hosting the awards ceremony on Saturday 3 May at Carlisle Business Centre. At the event pupils and parents will be attending to recognise achievements and success.

Mohammed Ali added: "We received some outstanding entries – the standard was exceptionally high - and it’s really beneficial for us to be able to understand situations from children’s perspective."

The competition was launched as part of QED’s three-year Madrassa Children’s Literacy Project. The project is designed to bring Madrassas and mainstream schools together and improve communication and dialogue between the two. This will ultimately improve the educational achievement of the young people.

Following the success of the project in Bradford, QED is now set to launch a further two projects in Manchester and Leicester this year.

Mohammed Ali concluded: "The competition and award ceremony further strengthens the success of the project as it highlights our aim of improving cohesion between Madrassas and mainstream schools.

"The level of interest and support we have received is second to none and clearly demonstrates the commitment everyone has in creating a cohesive place to learn."

Lord Nazir Ahmed will be presenting all those that took part in the competition a certificate on the day and a winner from each Madrassa will be presented with an award. An overall winner of the competition will be selected and second and third places will also be awarded.

For further information please contact Amy Colwill, amy.colwill@beattiegroup.com, 0113 2130 307