The seed for this project was sown by one of my teachers at Darul Uloom Bury, Sheikh Bilal Bawa, who strongly encouraged me to develop Islamic education for children with special needs, a group whose needs are all too often not met within our communities. Following my graduation, I therefore completed a degree level course in English and British Sign Language, and then began to work in the field of special needs education in Leicester.

Project BILAL (Building Independent Learning And Life skills) Special Needs Madrasa will deliver sessions for one and a half hours, and the curriculum we offer will include:
• collective oral memorisation of the Book of Allah
• the learning of key duas and Sunnah etiquettes
• arts and craft activities
• indoor sports
These activities will be designed to increase the confidence and independence skills of pupils, and they will be tailored to meet the different needs of the individuals attending. Their learning will be facilitated by a team of experienced special needs teachers.
We will initially be enrolling children of both genders aged 8 to 18 with Downs Syndrome or autism/Aspergers Syndrome, and will expand to other MLD (Moderate Learning difficulties) children as and when our capacity allows inshaAllah.

Start up costs include:
• Portable interactive whiteboard and projector
• Tablets for visual learning
• Arts and crafts equipment
• Reading materials
• Boccia and other indoor sports equipment
Premises hire for two evenings per week, will be an ongoing cost that should be covered by the Madrasa fees once our classes are full inshaAllah. Over the first few months, however, there will be a deficit that needs to be met.

To conclude, this is a unique project for the benefit of a very blessed and often neglected group within our community, and any financial assistance that you can offer would be a very rewarding act of charity. JazakAllah.