Assessment in Deeniyat: How Al-Hashmi Students Are Evaluated

Parents enrolling a child in an Islamic school usually ask the same quiet question: will he actually be examined, or will he simply attend? At Al Hashmi Academy the answer is unambiguous. Deeniyat exams are a built-in part of the curriculum, not an afterthought: a 60-minute Deeniyat period is held every day, and assessment runs out of 100 marks. Memorisation that is not examined is memorisation that fades, and the Academy’s assessment design is built around that simple observation.

This post walks through both layers, what students are examined on at each stage, and how parents stay informed.

The Two Layers of Deeniyat Exams

Every student from LKG to Class 10, whether in the Nazira stream, the Hifz-ul-Quran Plus programme or the school’s mainstream classes, receives a full 60-minute Deeniyat period each day, and assessment runs out of 100 marks in common with the rest of the school’s subjects. Within that hour the teacher divides attention across Quran recitation, memorisation, Arabic language, Seerat, Ahadees and duas according to the class’s syllabus — and assessment runs on two layers that support each other.

The first layer is continuous. Inside the daily period, students are assessed out of 100 marks on what they are reading, reciting and memorising. This is not a single mark at the end of a term; it is the ordinary currency of the classroom, so that a child who has slipped in his Ahadees or his suras discovers it in days rather than in March. The same 100-mark pattern applies across the primary and secondary classes, so a parent who understands assessment in Class 3 understands it in Class 8; only the content deepens.

The second layer is terminal. The school conducts formal terminal examinations, including the Quran-e-Majid 1st Terminal paper in Class 3 (seven pare) and the Quran-e-Majid 2nd Terminal paper in Class 4 (ten pare). Hifz students, in addition, face a final examination for their programme, and receive their certificate only after passing it.

Neither layer is optional, and neither works alone. Daily assessment without terminal examination would lack a finish line; terminal examination without daily assessment would produce panic cramming of material that was never properly learned. Together they produce a student who is used to being tested, and therefore unafraid of it. And because Deeniyat marks sit alongside modern-subject marks in the same school report, the timetable’s split — 70% religious and 30% modern in Grades I to IX, 20% religious and 80% modern in Class 10 for the SSLC board — is visible to parents in one place.

What Students Are Examined On: The Rote Components

Much of early Deeniyat assessment covers memorised material, and the syllabus specifies what is memorised and when. The progression runs like this:

• LKG and UKG — the Noorani Qaeda; Arabic alphabets and 50 Arabic words; memorisation of Sura-e-Fatiha, Sura Asr and Sura Ikhlas; 5 Ahadees, the 3 Kalime and daily duas.
• Classes 1 and 2 — the Baghdadi Qaeda and Yassarnal Quran; verses memorised first in sets of one to three, then four to ten; suras including Feel, Quraish, Ma’un, Kafirun, Falaq and Naas; 5 Ahadees and the 2 Kalime.
• Class 3 — the Quran-e-Majid 1st Terminal (seven pare), Tamir-e-Adab (1), 10 Ahadees and Learning Namaz.
• Class 4 — the Quran-e-Majid 2nd Terminal (ten pare), Tamir-e-Adab (2), and the prayer texts of Attahiyat, Durood-e-Ibrahim and Dua-e-Masoora.
• Class 5 — verses eleven to twenty, Tamir-e-Adab (3), and once more 10 Ahadees together with the Masoora Duas.
• Classes 6 to 8 — the Arabic texts of Minhajul Arabia (1 to 3) with Tamir-e-Adab (4 and 5), Naql-o-Imla in Class 6, and the completed Seerat books of Classes 7 and 8.
• Classes 9 and 10 — Faizul Adab (1 and 2), Arabic, Seerat, Aqaid through Kitab-ul-Aqaid, and Fiqh through Bahar-e-Shari’at (1) with Anwar-e-Shari’at.

Notice the pattern of repetition built into the rote components. The 5 Ahadees of LKG return in Classes 1 and 2; the 10 Ahadees of Class 3 return in Class 5; the Masoora Duas introduced in Class 4 are examined again in Class 5. A student is rarely tested on something he has met only once. This is deliberate: the rote material of Deeniyat — the Kalime, the duas, the Ahadees — is material a Muslim recites for the rest of his life, and it is treated that way in the timetable.

The Hifz Final Examination and the Terminal Papers

Two formal milestones sit on top of continuous assessment.

The first is the pair of terminal papers in the junior classes. The Quran-e-Majid 1st Terminal in Class 3 certifies seven pare; the 2nd Terminal in Class 4 certifies ten. Because these are named milestones with a fixed quantity attached, families track progress in concrete terms — not “he is somewhere in Para 8”, but “he has passed the 2nd Terminal”.

The second is the Hifz final examination of the Hifz-ul-Quran Plus programme, which runs from Class V to Class IX at the rate of six paras a year, 70% memorisation and 30% modern education. The programme’s rule is strict and clear: the certificate is awarded only after passing the final examination. Attendance alone does not confer it. Supporting this examination cycle is the weekly Daur, the revision circle that keeps earlier paras current, so that a student reaching the final examination carries the whole Quran with him rather than the memory of the last few months.

How Continuous Assessment and Memorization Testing Work Together

The design becomes visible when the two layers are read together. Memorised material — a hadees, a Kalime, a dua, a sura — is learned inside the daily period, marked under the 100-marks system, revived at the next cycle of revision, then certified at a named milestone such as a terminal paper or the Hifz final examination.

Each stage catches a different failure. The daily assessment catches a portion never learned at all. The repeated examination catches material learned and then forgotten. The terminal paper catches material known in fragments but not yet joined into a whole. And the Hifz final examination catches the one failure parents fear most — a five-year course completed on paper but not carried in the heart. Because modern subjects continue throughout — the 30% share of Grades I to IX and the 80% share of Class 10 — those subjects are assessed in the same reports.

For the family, the practical consequence is simple: there is no season of Deeniyat when nothing is being measured, and therefore no season in which a struggle can hide.

Keeping Parents Informed: Conferences, Portal and Career Counselling

Assessment only serves a family that can see it. Al Hashmi provides three channels for that.

• Parent-teacher conferences are held on schedule, giving parents a structured opportunity to discuss marks, memorisation and conduct with the child’s teachers.
• Online portal updates keep parents who live away from campus informed — for families whose work keeps them from Bijapur, and for hostel parents.
• Career counselling in Grades 9 and 10 helps families convert the assessment record into decisions: whether a student continues towards the SSLC board and pre-university study, or goes on into the Academy’s post-graduate Deeniyat departments — Nazirah, Hifz-o-Qirat, Maulaviat, Aalimiyat, Fazeelat and Imamat.

Parents who wish to see the full curriculum, and the ten institutions in Bijapur and Dharwad that deliver it, can visit the institutions page.

Conclusion: Exams in Service of a Lifelong Recitation

Deeniyat exams at Al Hashmi are not an intrusion on religious education; they are what makes religious education durable. A 60-minute daily period, 100-marks continuous assessment, specified rote components from the 3 Kalime to the 10 Ahadees and the Masoora Duas, terminal papers on seven and ten pare of the Quran, and a Hifz final examination that gates the certificate — together these ensure that what a child memorises at six he still carries at sixteen. Families seeking more detail about admissions or the assessment calendar are welcome at alhashmi.org.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How often are Deeniyat students assessed at Al Hashmi Academy?

Every day. Each student from LKG to Class 10 receives a 60-minute Deeniyat period, within which they are assessed out of 100 marks. Formal terminal examinations — including the Quran-e-Majid 1st and 2nd Terminal papers in Classes 3 and 4 — are held on top of this continuous assessment.

Q2. What memorised material is examined in Deeniyat?

The rote components include the 3 Kalime and 2 Kalime, 5 Ahadees in the early classes and 10 Ahadees in Classes 3 and 5, the Masoora Duas (introduced in Class 4 and examined again in Class 5), and staged sura memorisation from Sura-e-Fatiha, Asr and Ikhlas in LKG through Sura Feel, Quraish, Ma’un, Kafirun, Falaq and Naas in Classes 1 and 2.

Q3. Do Hifz students receive a certificate automatically?

No. The Hifz-ul-Quran Plus certificate is awarded only after the student passes the final examination. The programme runs from Class V to Class IX at six paras per year, with a 70% memorisation and 30% modern education split and a weekly revision circle to support examination readiness.

Q4. How can parents living away from campus follow assessment?

Through the Academy’s online portal updates and the scheduled parent-teacher conferences. Career counselling is also provided in Grades 9 and 10 to help families interpret the assessment record and plan the student’s next stage, whether in board examinations or in the post-graduate Deeniyat departments.