Muslim Alumni Society (MUAS) will later this year award Muslim Students who scored good grades during the 2011 Malawi School Certificate Examinations (MSCE).
This will be the second time for the Islamic grouping of university graduates to award students.
One of the key members for MUAS Cassius Chidothe who is a lawyer by profession, says his organisation decided to come up with the initiative in a bid to motivate Muslim students to be working hard in their studies.
‘’There is a lot of talk on Muslims on whether they perform well or not. There is that belief that Muslims in this country do not do well in secular studies. Moreover, it is sad to see Muslims students (themselves) entertaining such thoughts,’’ he said.
Chidothe also said ‘we want to provide to the Malawi Muslim society an opportunity on how best some Muslim Students do excel in their studies.’
Last year, MUAS dished out money amounting to 50,000 Malawi Kwacha and certificates of recognition to three best performing students. During the function that was held at Great Hall in Zomba City in 2011, MUAS awarded Sabina Malimbasa, a former student of Saint Mary’s Secondary school and Noordin a former Lilongwe Islamic Secondary School for scoring 11 and 9 points respectively during the 2010 MSCE examinations. Another recipient was Saddam Thom from Chikwawa Secondary School.
According to another key member of MUAS, Yusuf Nthenda, the best students will receive more rewards during this year’s function than what the previous recipients got.
He said this is because the best performer during the last MSCE sitting scored less than 9 points, which exceeds the scores that were achieved during the previous sitting.
Nthenda then added that during this year’s award giving ceremony, there will be other beneficial activities that will spice up the event.
‘’Basically, the main objective of the awards is to encourage Muslim students to do well academically. Therefore, we will offer career guidance lectures for those who are preparing to sit for the upcoming University Entrance Examinations,’ Nthenda said.
The initiative is financially supported by MUAS members who according to Chidothe is a means of paying back to the society and also expressing gratitude to Allah.
He then called upon individuals or organisations that would like to be part of this year’s awards to bring forward their assistance to be offered to the best performing students.
Apart from giving out the Best MSCE Student Award, MUAS also offers bursaries to needy students.
