Primary Curriculum

Ta‘lim is an international programme in religious, moral and cultural education for Ismaili children from pre-school to secondary. Its overall aim is to educate children in the faith, ethics, history and cultures of Muslim peoples and of the Ismaili community in particular. Based on this framework, it seeks to promote self-development, learning and moral responsibility through instructional approaches which encourage creativity and reflection.

The Primary curriculum is presented in eleven languages through a series of teaching and learning materials, designed to meet the needs of Ismaili children, parents and teachers living in different countries and cultures. A range of educational materials has been developed for each age-level.

Children’s Readers have been specially written and graded for 6-11-year-olds. The text is presented in simple language to enable children to read the books with ease. The pages are illustrated in full colour, using pictures that will appeal to young minds. The books include stories as well as descriptive text to engage children’s interest.

Activity Books consist of activity-sheets to be used with each level’s curriculum. The activity sheets have been designed to support, reinforce and extend the objectives of the main topics. They are an interesting and creative medium which give children an opportunity to participate actively in the lessons. The exercises in the activity sheets can be done in the classroom or at home.

Teacher’s and Parent’s Guides are intended to assist teachers and parents to use the curriculum, both in the classroom and at home. The Guides contain a general introduction to the educational aims and approaches of the curriculum. They also provide a series of structured topic plans to assist teachers and parents to teach the topics to children.

Charts, Posters and PictureCards are supplementary teaching aids which complement the materials for each level. They present historical, cultural and other educational information in a visual form. They also help teachers to promote enquiry and discussion in the classroom, and to lead children to an understanding of important learning points in each theme.

The Institute’s Department of Curriculum Studies has published materials for the following age groups: