About the madarsa
Madrasa Noorul Uloom has taught the children of Pokharbhitwa since 1978. We are a day madarsa of 275 children, Nursery to Class 5, boys and girls.
The madarsa opened on 26 September 1978, so the children in Class 5 this year are being taught in a building their grandparents helped put up. It has never been a boarding madarsa and it has never been a seminary.
Children come in the morning and go home at two. Most of our families are from Yasodhara and the villages around it, and a great many of our fathers and uncles are working in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Gulf — which is how the madarsa is largely paid for, a thousand or two thousand rupees at a time, sent home every month.
What we promise is narrow and we would rather be judged on it: a child who finishes Class 5 here reads the Qur'an correctly with Tajweed, understands enough Arabic to follow what they are reading, and is at the right level in Nepali, English and Mathematics to join Class 6 at any school in the district.
At a glance
- Students
- 275
- Classes
- Nursery to 5
- Sponsored children
- 48
- Teaching since
- 1978
What we hold ourselves to
Every child is taught to read, not to recite from memory alone
A child who has memorised a surah but cannot read it has not been taught. Reading comes first here, for every child, including those doing Hifz.
No child is turned away over money
Forty-eight of our 275 children have their fees met by a sponsor. The arrangement is private: the child is not told, the class is not told, and nothing about their day is different.
The accounts are open to the families
Every rupee in and out is written in the register — fees, donations, the electricity bill, chairs, welding. It is totalled every month and any parent may ask to see it.
Who runs the madarsa
The madarsa is run by a committee drawn from the families of the children who attend it. The committee meets every month and the accounts are read out at that meeting.
- Sadr (President)
- To be confirmed
- Nazim (Head of the madarsa)
- To be confirmed
- Secretary
- To be confirmed
- Treasurer
- To be confirmed
How it is paid for
The madarsa is paid for by the fees families pay and by donations, most of them from our own people working abroad — twenty-two donors are on the register this year, sending money home from Saudi Arabia and Qatar by bank transfer. It receives no government grant. Where a family cannot pay, the gap is met from those donations, which is why the concession is given quietly and without a fuss.
If you would like to give zakat or chanda to the madarsa, come to the office or call 9828821332. Every donation is receipted and entered in the same accounts as everything else.
Questions we are asked
The six the office answers most often on the phone.
Anything we have not answered
Call the office on 9828821332, or come in during office hours and ask.