The aLIVE Programme Singapore: Everything Parents Need to Know in 2026

Introduction

The vast majority of Singapore’s Muslim children do not attend a full-time madrasah. They attend national primary and secondary schools — Sekolah Kebangsaan equivalents — during the day, and for their Islamic education, they attend the aLIVE programme at their neighbourhood mosque.

aLIVE stands for Learning Islamic Values Everyday — and it is by far the most widely attended Islamic education programme in Singapore, with over 4,000 students, 800 teachers, and 38 aLIVE centres and mosque madrasahs participating every year. It is the backbone of Singapore’s part-time Islamic education system, the community-level equivalent of the full-time madrasah, and the primary vehicle through which MUIS delivers its vision of a knowledgeable, practising Singapore Muslim community.

This guide explains what aLIVE is, what it teaches, how it is structured, how to enrol, what financial assistance is available, and how Singapore’s Muslim families can make the most of this programme for their children.

What Is aLIVE?

The aLIVE programme is a part-time Islamic education programme for young Muslims from age 5 to 20. It operates through mosque madrasahs — Islamic classes run at mosques across Singapore on weekends or weekday evenings — under a standardised curriculum developed by MUIS (the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore).

aLIVE was launched in 2004 as a reformed version of Singapore’s previous part-time religious curriculum. It replaced an older, more fragmented approach to mosque Islamic education with a nationally standardised curriculum that is:

• Age-appropriate and developmentally sequenced — four levels each for Kids (ages 5–10), Tweens (ages 10–14), Teens (ages 14–17), and Youth (ages 17–20)
• Thematically integrated — subjects are not taught as isolated disciplines but through overarching themes that make Islamic knowledge relevant to students’ actual lives
• English-medium — in recognition of the reality that English is the primary language of Singapore Muslim children
• Teacher-quality assured — all aLIVE teachers (asatizah) must hold ARS (Asatizah Recognition Scheme) or QTRS (Quranic Teachers Recognition Scheme) recognition from MUIS, and must attend regular MUIS training sessions

The aLIVE Mosque Madrasah programmes aim to nurture soleh/solehah (pious/righteous) children with taqwa (God-consciousness) and good akhlak (character), knowledgeable in Islam, becoming practising Muslims, and showing care and concern towards others.

The aLIVE Curriculum: What Students Learn

The aLIVE curriculum is organised into four thematic subject areas that cut across all age levels, with different emphasis depending on the level:

Qur’anic Literacy: Learning to read, recite, and understand the Quran. At the younger levels (Kids and Tweens), this is the most emphasised component — building foundational Arabic literacy through the Iqra’ and Quran reading method, learning selected Surahs with their meanings, and developing Tajweed (proper recitation) skills. At older levels, Quranic literacy deepens to include understanding of Quranic themes and their relevance to modern life.

Faith & Practices: This covers Aqidah (Islamic beliefs) and Fiqh (acts of worship and Islamic law) — presented together as a connected framework. Students learn what they believe as Muslims and why, and learn how to perform the acts of worship correctly: Wudhu, Salaah, Sawm, and the other pillars of Islamic practice.

Character & Life Skills (Akhlak): Islamic ethics, manners, and character — how to be a good Muslim person in Singapore’s multi-cultural, multi-religious society. This subject area is particularly relevant to the Singapore context: students learn Islamic values not in a vacuum but in the specific social environment they inhabit, which includes non-Muslim friends, secular school environments, and the pressures of a highly competitive society.

Social & Civilisational Islam (Sirah and Tarikh): The life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, the history of the Islamic civilisation, and the contributions of Muslims to human knowledge and culture. This subject area builds the historical and civilisational identity that connects Singapore’s Muslim youth to the global Islamic tradition.

The aLIVE curriculum uses a spiral approach that revisits themes with increasing complexity, allowing students to build knowledge progressively. Therefore, levels are age-appropriate, and there is no need to enrol a child in a lower level if they do not have basic Islamic foundation — the curriculum meets students where they are.

The Four aLIVE Age Groups

Kids aLIVE (Years 1–4, approximately ages 5–10): The foundational years. Primary emphasis on Quranic literacy — learning the Arabic alphabet, vowel system, and basic reading rules through the Iqra’ method, progressing to reading the Quran from the Mushaf. Islamic character and basic Fiqh (how to perform Wudhu and Salaah) are introduced through age-appropriate activities.

Tweens aLIVE (Years 1–4, approximately ages 10–14): The consolidation years. Quranic reading progresses to greater fluency and selected Tajweed rules. Fiqh coverage expands to include the details of acts of worship. Akhlak content addresses the specific challenges of early adolescence — peer pressure, identity, relationships — from an Islamic perspective.

Teens aLIVE (Years 1–4, approximately ages 14–17): The identity years. As students navigate the particularly challenging years of middle adolescence, aLIVE Teens focuses on building a confident Muslim identity that can withstand the secular pressures of Singaporean teenage life. Content addresses contemporary issues — social media, relationships, career — from an Islamic framework.

Youth aLIVE (Years 1–2, ages 17–20): The pre-adult years. Designed for older students approaching adulthood, Youth aLIVE covers more advanced Islamic topics and prepares young adults to maintain and deepen their Islamic practice independently.

The ILHAM Management Hub

Many of Singapore’s aLIVE centres are administered by ILHAM — Islamic Learning Hub And Management Office. ILHAM is the management body that runs a network of aLIVE centres across Singapore, providing:

• Standardised centre management and quality oversight
• Teacher recruitment, training, and support
• Student registration and records management
• Parent communication infrastructure

For the 15 aLIVE centres under ILHAM administration, registration is done online. For other mosque-run centres, registration is done through the mosque directly.

ILHAM’s teacher quality standards are clear: asatizah must be ARS or QTRS recognised, must hold relevant Islamic education qualifications (many are graduates of Al-Azhar University, the International Islamic University of Malaysia, or other recognised institutions), and must attend regular training sessions. Teachers are trained in classroom management, instructional strategies and curriculum delivery.

Progress reporting follows a structured format: Students’ learning needs and progress are noted in aLIVE progress report books. This will then be shared with parents during Parent-Teacher Conferences (PTC) yearly.

The Islamic Education Fund (IEF): Making aLIVE Affordable

One of MUIS’s most important commitments is ensuring that financial constraints never prevent a Singapore Muslim child from accessing Islamic education. The Islamic Education Fund (IEF) was introduced in 2004 specifically to keep aLIVE mosque madrasah classes affordable for lower-income families.

IEF comprises two components:

Needy Student Grant: A fee subsidy of up to S

        520peryearforeligiblestudentsfromlower−incomefamilies(basedonhouseholdpercapitaincome).ThiswasincreasedfromS520 per year for eligible students from lower-income families (based on household per capita income). This was increased from S520peryearforeligiblestudentsfromlower−incomefamilies(basedonhouseholdpercapitaincome).ThiswasincreasedfromS
      

400 in 2022 in recognition of rising living costs.

Family Support Rebate: An additional subsidy available to families who fall just above the Needy Student Grant threshold, extended in 2022 to make more families eligible.

Funding for Families (FFF): Financial assistance from MUIS specifically to assist eligible families to fund their children’s enrolment in the aLIVE programme.

More than 4,000 students, 800 teachers and 38 aLIVE centres/mosque madrasahs have benefited from the IEF every year since its inception, in the form of fee subsidies, training grants, centre support grants and funding for outreach programmes.

Applications for IEF for 2026 are made at the time of aLIVE registration for families whose household per capita income (PCI) is between S

        0andS0 and S0andS
      

1,000.

aLIVE Online Madrasah

MUIS and ILHAM also operate an aLIVE Online Madrasah — a digital version of the programme for students who cannot attend in-person sessions. This was first deployed significantly during the mosque closures of the COVID-19 pandemic, when all aLIVE students moved online and teachers delivered lessons through video conferencing tools with digital learning materials, activity handbooks, and weekly online quizzes.

The Online Madrasah has been maintained as a permanent option, allowing students in circumstances that prevent regular mosque attendance to continue their Islamic education without interruption.

The LearnQuran Series

For students who specifically want to improve their Quranic recitation outside of the standard aLIVE classes, ILHAM also offers the LearnQuran Series — a dedicated Quranic literacy programme supplementing the aLIVE curriculum. This is particularly valuable for older students who come to aLIVE with limited prior Arabic literacy and need focused Quranic recitation support before they can fully engage with the Quranic Literacy component of the aLIVE curriculum.

How to Register for aLIVE in 2026

Registration for aLIVE 2026 is done through individual centres. The most convenient approach is:

1. Find the nearest aLIVE centre or mosque madrasah through the learnislam.sg website’s centre directory
2. Contact the centre directly or register online through the centre’s registration link
3. For ILHAM-managed centres, register through the ILHAM online registration portal
4. If applying for financial assistance (IEF), select the appropriate option during registration and complete the IEF application form

Registrations for the new academic year typically open in the latter months of the preceding year. Families who have not registered before should check registration dates at their preferred centre.

MBK: Mosque-Based Kindergartens for Younger Children

For Muslim children under age 5 — too young for the aLIVE programme — MUIS operates MBK (Mosque-Based Kindergartens), a network of 15 preschools located within mosques across Singapore. MBK provides holistic early childhood education for children from 3 to 6 years old, in an Islamic environment, taught by educators who integrate Islamic values into the early childhood curriculum.

MBK is the starting point of Singapore’s Islamic education continuum — preparing young children for the aLIVE programme and, ultimately, for a life as informed, practising Muslims in Singapore’s diverse society.

Managing aLIVE Centres: Administrative Challenges

For the administrators and teachers running Singapore’s 38+ aLIVE centres and mosque madrasahs, the administrative demands are significant. Singapore parents are among the most digitally engaged in the world — they expect real-time, individual communication about their child’s progress and attendance, not a once-yearly Parent-Teacher Conference as the only formal touchpoint.

The specific administrative requirements of an aLIVE centre include:

Individual Student Records: Every enrolled student’s details, level, and progress must be maintained in a format accessible to MUIS and ILHAM oversight processes.

Quranic Progression Tracking: The aLIVE curriculum’s Quranic Literacy component requires tracking each student’s progress through the Iqra’ levels and subsequently through Quran reading — recording which lesson they are currently on and how well they are progressing. This should be updated after each session and visible to parents.

Attendance: Every session must have an attendance record. Absences should trigger individual parent notification — not a general group message.

IEF Financial Management: Centres receiving IEF subsidies must maintain accurate records of which students receive assistance, at what level, and how the funds are applied.

ARS/QTRS Teacher Records: Every teaching session must be covered by an ARS or QTRS recognised asatizah. Teacher qualification records must be maintained and current.

A purpose-built Islamic education management platform — one that handles Quranic progression tracking, individual parent portals, attendance with automatic absence notification, and financial management with receipts — provides exactly the infrastructure that aLIVE centres need to meet these standards without administrative burden overwhelming the teachers.