I do not understand the logic behind fee at a Sunday Islamic school. Those masjids where schools are housed , hold fund raising on a regular basis and quite frequently. Why can’t they add the expenses of Islamic school in their fund raising ? All the teachers are volunteers , they charge money for books. All they do is give out snack at a break and they charge 100+ dollars for a few months worth of Islamic teaching. If it is another way of fund raising for masjids expenses then meet those expenses by holding yet another fund raising and give peace of mind to all those parents whose kids go to Sunday Islamic school.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Sunday Islamic school? I guess God did rest on the 7th day.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Some smaller masjids can't afford to have kids come in for free. They may be at a stage where they need funds for construction, renovations as well as the Imam's salary. I say this from personal experience. So a small fee helps to take care of routine maintenance, supplies, books, water/electric bills, and once in a while costs such as low writing desks, storage cabinets...etc etc...
As for more well established masjids, again, the overheads are greater and a reasonable fee can certainly help take care of some of it. I can understand how community members feel about constantly giving to the masjid for this then that then this then that...
My biggest question for the muslim community, however, is that, we spends tons of money in useless worldly activities that have only a temporary benefit or reward, but man are we the most kanjoos community when it comes to donating towards our masjids and education. Why? You will find a few key folks in each community who do most of the spending while the others pledge at every Ramadan fundraising after a heart warming speech by the Imam, but come check writing time, nothing.
Our masjid is one such masjid. We've been trying to raise funds since the past 5-6 years but we can hardly meet our Imam's humble pay and living expenses let alone building costs. So yes, for a masjid like ours, it's fair to charge the otherwise well off families a little bit a month for their children's Islamic education. Of course some of our board members are quite laid back and bored so some reshuffling is definitely required.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
I think the accounting and disclosure need to be fair, if the fees are going towards other expenses then people should know about it, transparency is key. its s double edged sword, sometimes people feel that they are subsidizing other expenses which they should not be responsible for, e.g. imam salary or masjid costs not related to the school. The opposite also holds true in some cases, where people who are donating for general masjid funds feel that if a chunk of that is subsidizing sunday school for kids of families who should be able to pay, then they get a miffed. There is no easy win really.
sadly much of it stems from the desi mentality that they can act like jackasses when it comes to other desis but dealing with non desis they are just "yes sir' and 'no sir' ..
Niksik, for fundraising, have a process in place where it is a autodebit. Its much easy for 25 bucks to go directly come pay do towards masjid than writing a $600 check.
Now for masajid, anyone who is building one, please think of it as a multi use facility, with a small section serving as a dedicated prayer area, but rest of it should be configurable so in the same space you can have sunday school, or rent out for community events.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
X2, we hope to be able to do that in the future. Our accountant left 
and we’re looking for a new accounts committee. We’ve just got done with some of the legal issues with nonprofit etc etc. Hopefully things well get better soon.
And like u said, we use one building of the 2 buildings we have for the ladies prayers sections and community hall, and 3 rooms for the school. The collections from the tuition are used to pay a portion of the building bills and renovations as we use most of the place. Our student families are aware of that as we send out a quarterly newsletter explaining details of expenses, etc.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Set up a website for your Masjid with all the details ,with an option to accept donation via credit card , paypal etc , you might be amazed . People from all over the world are longing to donate but want to donate for the right cause and for the right purpose.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
We have a website that was last updated in 2007 
Some strategies we are planning to implement:
- Have a minimal membership fee [like $5 a month] per family. You receive a quarterly newsletter, attend a monthly community dinner at the masjid…this is to promote social interaction and promote “brotherhood” and passion for the masjid [for lack of a better word :D].
- Update website [for which we need a dedicated volunteer. Someone has offered to help; let’s see.]
Thank goodness we passed fire safety laws and parking requirements this year 
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Maybe some parents just don't see the payoff in their monthly investment.....some programs may be excellent and well worth the fee, while others simply aren't. I was sent to Islamic school one summer and I still think it wasn't worth it...At least now there's many more options to choose from when at that time that was hte only one available...Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to send my children to a supplemental Islamic school NOR would I have a problem paying for a good program..
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
I went to an Islamic school for high school.
Its not easy...people that work for masjids do it out of pure love for their religion and dont get paid enough. :( There are so many bills, expenses that come up in running any small or large institution...how they make ends meet is hard to fathom for me.
I think charging is okay and our community should not only pay but also donate whenever they get a chance to.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Yes. it is justifed. Someone has to pay for the added expenses.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Are you one of those desi parents who don't like paying for islamic stuff?
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Sounds great. :k:
I hope they do something like that in UK mosques.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Not a bad idea.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
My sister teaches at a weekend Islamic school and as she puts it, they just cover their overhead with the fees/tuition. The cost of the imam/maulana's salary, the stationary/books (and they're working from a proper syllabus) is higher than you'd expect. If a particular family cannot afford the tuition, they waive the tuition fees, but as someone said above, Islamic learning is so important yet we're reluctant to spend money on it.
And while we're on the topic, one of her greatest pet peeves is the attitude of parents that Islamic school is like a babysitting service. Kids and their parents don't treat the schooling as important. They come if they have time, otherwise they'll miss classes. A lot of parents don't revise the schoolwork with their kids either and don't think studying is needed, YET, these parents assume that the Islamic school is responsible for their giving their kids knowledge about the deen. They fail to realize, Islamic school is supplemental, parents can't abdicate their responsibility of parenting and teaching their children about Islam.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
^ditto that!
I teach at a Sunday school and we charge $80.00 for one year plus $20.00 for each additional child of the family so for 2 kids it's $100.00/year and it's waived if someone can't afford it. It includes books, snacks, and at least 2-3 outdoor activities such as visiting a park, ice skating, as well as two eid events where we do a full fledge celebration, give them gifts, decorate the masjid, and all of that.. does that $100/year cover it all? honestly no.. all teachers are volunteers and we have bought things for the school or contributed to the events as much as possible.. we do a big celebration for the children at the end of the year and teachers pay for it.. we have relaized that we need to make the school interesting for kids to come because sadly but truly many parents just dun care.. I can't even recall the number of times we have sent kids with homework and it wasn't done just because parents never opened their notebook! But yes they do tend to come forward at the end of the semester complaining my kids only learned 2 or 3 surahs etc and that we should be offering classes separately for arabic and urdu speaking kids yet none of those parents want to volunteer at the school!
I really wish parents really just didn't depend on the Sunday school for their kids to become islamic scholar but in fact worked at home with them as well! This year we had a special hajj journey for kids where some of us teachers pulled all nighters ot make kaaba, air plane, etc for kids to experience the hajj and our only request to parents was to bring their kids dressed in white.. most of them didn't even bother to open the invitation but Alhamdulillah kids enjoyed it all and tahts all what matters.. I love all my kids at the Sunday school, their parents, not so much :-D
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
Hhmmmmm!
sounds like we truly live in a global village..parents not caring and blaming teachers is happening everywhere now...:(
the moulana who taught quran to my sis in laws children demanded a rado watch....
.I made sure I was very active in my own kids studies islamic or otherwise due to this happening..
.its sad when ppl have kids but then can't or wont make time for their activities..
half an hour a day and that will make a big difference to your child...
and hats off to all you people teaching :)
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
when nothing is free not even public schools y we want islamic schools to be free? the fee they mostly charge is minimal.
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
maybe because it doesn’t have any “status” attached to it 
?
Re: Fee for Sunday Islamic Schools in the West, justified ?
what abt water. even water is not for free ? :)