Zayed foundation built Zayed College for Girls in January 2001, with a mission to provide state integrated education where young women can achieve personal potential, Islamic identity and valued citizenship.
Zayed College is unique in its philosophy in that it employs female only staff mainly from the Muslim faith to satisfy its special character requirements, but also employs non-Muslim staff. This is to work towards its vision of producing students with a beautiful character and fully realised academic potential.
Moreover, it has Muslim students from many ethnic backgrounds, speaking many languages resulting in a school that is very multicultural. The principal Ms Regina Rasheed in a special coverage with NZ Fiji Times beautifully explains the importance of getting her pupils ready for the world and accepting their Muslim identity as the common factor.
Ms Rasheed along with the director of pastoral care Ms Nadeema Nordien elaborates the state-of-the-art facilities that the school offers; a large indoor heated swimming pool, gym, well-equipped sports facilities for basketball, volleyball, badminton, netball, and numerous lunchtime sports equipment.
The school received an excellent Education Review Office report in 2018. Zayed college has a proven history of students getting scholarships from reputed universities, where principal Ms Rasheed devotes her time to ensure the holistic development of girls. In addition to the New Zealand Curriculum, programmes and observances such as the Muslim midday prayers, Mindfulness and Faith in Action are practised to develop the school values of respect, integrity, diligence and equity.
The Muslim midday prayers and mindfulness, which is practised twice daily, is part of the timetable, where teachers and students disengage themselves from materialism, meditate and reflect upon the day. They see it as behaviour management session with significant improvements in all areas reported by students.
Faith in Action programme aims to serve the community at large by feeding the homeless, providing care in rest-home and kindergartens, and cleaning mosques and local beaches. Dedicated programmes in school are designed to bridge the communication gaps to integrate students into the New Zealand community.
Ms Rasheed says, “Zayed college embeds in its students the importance of living the character of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h), which is kindness & respect for humanity as one”. Zayed college provides career pathways through career counselling and educates women not only for earning but for contemporary challenges while maintaining their personal identity hence the school motto: educate a woman, educate a nation.
NZ Fiji Times.
