Canadian capital Ottawa
 

Surpassing public and Catholic schools, an Islamic school has been rated the best performing elementary educational entity in the Canadian capital Ottawa.

"We are very excited," Mohammed Sa-leem, principal of the Abraar School, told Ottawa Citizen on Monday, February 18.

The private school, in Ottawa’s west side, was rated the best performing school for reading, writing and math scores by the Fraser Institute, a public policy think-tank.
The Islamic school achieved 9.4 out of 10, putting it in the top 50 schools among over 2,700 in Ontario.

The school is tied for 41st place in the province.

"We have a dedicated team of teachers who really understand the students,” Sa-leem said.

“They have a culturally relevant pedagogy that enables them to reach our students."

Accepting students from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, the school serves the Muslim community in Ottawa.

According to its website, the school aims at preserving the Islamic identity of the Muslim community in Ottawa.

“We believe that our goal is only achievable through raising generations of young Muslims who love and follow the way of Allah (subhanahu wa-taala) and His Prophet (peace be upon him),” the website says.

The school says it aims to empower Muslim students with the knowledge and skills needed to prepare them to lead successful lives as Muslims in Canada.

“Furthermore, we provide an advanced and comprehensive academic program that will prepare our students to pursue higher education and be competitive in their careers.”

Muslims make around 1.9 percent of Canada's 32.8 million population, and Islam is the number one non-Christian faith in the country.

A recent survey has showed the overwhelming majority of Muslims are proud to be Canadian.

Public Schools

The report also found that the performance of public schools in Ottawa was barely above average.

“Our report helps parents and educators prioritize learning challenges in their schools," said Peter Cowley, Fraser Institute director of school performance studies.

"All schools are capable of improvement, regardless of the personal or family challenges their students might face.”

The report showed that the performance of schools of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board rated 6.1 out of 10.

The average performance of provincial schools is six out of 10.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board schools scored an average of 6.6 out of 10, the report showed.

The report also showed that the lowest-ranked schools in Ottawa were Le Trillium public school in Vanier (2,702nd) and Dr. F. J. McDonald Catholic school (2,645th).

"These are kids' lives we're talking about in a very serious and real way," said Cowley.

"Low performance suggests kids are not acquiring the skills and knowledge they're going to need in basic areas of ability to read, write or do calculations in math."
Islamic School Ottawa’s Best - Americas - News - OnIslam.net...