Islamic preacher Zakir Naik may be embroiled in a controversy, but the international school he runs here shows little sign of being weighed down by it.
Members of the management of the Islamic International School exude confidence defending the institution’s outlook and are unabashed in their faith in Mr. Naik. The Salafist tradition, to which the institution is wedded, is in no way illegal in the country, they argue.
Tucked away in a nondescript corner of East Coast Road (ECR) at Injambakkam, right next to the famous Saibaba shrine, the unfinished building resembles an old cinema house from outside, a far cry from the attractive campus that one sees in brochures. Finding the building is no easy task. With a damaged compound wall and no banners or signboards, visitors invariably seek the help of locals to locate it.
“Education for both the worlds,” declares the pamphlet introducing the school to the visitor. Vice-Principal Dawood Basha explains what “both the worlds” means. “Our students take the IGCSE Cambridge International Examinations for which highly qualified teachers coach the students as per the Cambridge syllabus. At the same time, we teach the students the Koran and the Hadith,” he states. Whenever Mr. Naik is in Chennai he interacts directly with students, he added.
The pamphlet given to The Hindu claims that the school is in the “process of being affiliated” to the Cambridge IGCSE Board. Currently, students take the examinations through APL Global, which is affiliated to Cambridge. Under the Islamic studies category, the school lists Tajweed and Qirat, Hifz of the Koran, Seerah of the Prophet, Shariah and Dawah as the subjects offered.
There are about 100 students and 67 teachers, helping the management boast of the “best student-teacher ratio of any school” in Chennai. “There were about 250 students sometime back, but after a misunderstanding within the management, some members moved out and opened a new school at Nungambakkam. Some of the students have gone there,” he says, not willing to elaborate on what the misunderstanding was. The Injambakkam branch is one of the two in India. The first school was set up in Mumbai.
Its pamphlet claims that the school is in the process of being affiliated to Cambridge IGCSE Board
