New Delhi: The Children’s Islamic Organisation organised a two-day workshop on 31st August and 1st September at the headquarters of JIH, with a view to equipping mentors with the necessary skills to understand and address the modern challenges faced by children. The program was addressed by S. Ameenul Hasan, Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind; Syed Tanveer Ahmed, CIO General Secretary; and others, who dwelt upon the need for a comprehension of child psychology, stages of development, and how children’s lives are being shaped in the modern digital world.

Understanding Child Psychology and Modern Challenges

S. Ameenul Hasan, while delivering the lecture on ‘Child Psychology and Developmental Stages,’ explained that mentors, parents, and teachers must understand the psychological and developmental stages of children. Today’s modern digital landscape—where, with an easy click, specific content is available on mobile phones and on the net—provides challenges unimaginable even for adults a few years ago. Hasan highlighted that the failure to identify such hindrances often leads to ineffective rearing techniques that hinder a child from developing well.

Hasan gave importance to the knowledge of the reasons (whys) underlying children’s changed behaviour and the identification of their psychological language. He talked about the effect of the digital age on the personalities of children and the need for healthy activities as one of the preventive measures. Hasan pointed out anxiety, depression, and frustration among children and advised the mentors to educate the parents and teach coping skills to the children to help them overcome these mental problems.

Preparing Mentors for the Alpha Generation

Hasan kept reminding mentors throughout his closing address that they need to be prepared to rise to the challenge of the Alpha Generation. “Connect children with their souls, society, and nature; simultaneously teach them how to conduct themselves in the digital world,” he added. With these insights, Hasan aimed at empowering the mentors, thus preparing them with the knowledge and skills with which to instruct children in today’s transforming world.

Building Ideal Mentors

The CIO General Secretary Syed Tanveer Ahmed delivered a thought-provoking address regarding the attributes of ‘Ideal Mentors’. He expressed that successful mentors should have insight into child psychology, the role of children in society, and parenting. Ahmed set forth that knowledge, skills, and attitude are the innate qualities for mentors, and mentors as facilitators should serve as motivators and counsellors all at once. His guidance introduced workshop participants to the best principles of child training, emphasizing holistic and comprehensive approaches.

Spiritual Training and Community Building

Mohiuddin Ghazi, Editor of the monthly magazine ‘Zindagi Nau,’ led a special session on spiritual training for children. Ghazi emphasized that children must be instilled with an important realization regarding Allah’s blessings in order to instil love of Allah within their hearts. He also guided the mentors on how to teach children what Allah likes and what He does not like, how to pray accurately, and how to develop love for Muhammad (PBUH) by giving examples from the life of Muhammad. Ghazi’s session was highly practical in providing actionable insights to strengthen the spiritual development of children.

The framework of the organization was presented by Dr. Mubashara Firdous, Assistant Secretary of CIO, who shared insights on CIOs objectives, vision, and approach. She focused more on how team-building activities help in creating a sense of community and cooperation amongst children and conducted some practical activities to help mentors learn effective ways of developing teamwork and leadership skills in children.

Promoting Arts and Culture

In the same session, a member of the Children’s Committee Hina Farhan presented a paper on forming an Arts and Culture Forum for children. Farhan elaborated on the process of forming this forum, method of selection of the artists and addition of students related to the field of art and culture. She elaborated onhow their organization blends ancient and modern varieties of all arts and works towards the betterment of children to appreciate various cultural expressions.

A Step Forward for CIO

The training sessions were on diverse topics, and the workshop was also addressed by Ateequr Rahman, Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind; Dr. Rizwan; among others. This workshop proved to be a milestone for CIO since the participants came out with fresh ideas and skills that will enable them to carry out their duties effectively during child mentorship.

About Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and CIO

The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) focuses on comprehensive understanding and solution-seeking for the different challenges faced by society. CIO, whose membership is open to children aged between 5 to 14 years of age, has been set up by JIH to inculcate a deep sense of love and reverence for Allah and Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), incorporate moral values, encourage and strengthen belief/aqeeda to create awareness about living a collective life to establish ‘deen’ in collective and individual life.