The ZCSS Convention was held on Thursday 14 September 2006 at Satwa Imambargah, Dubai. The program began with reflections from the Holy Quran on the importance of charity. This was followed by an introduction by ZCSS Vice-Chairman Brother Sajjad Tejani who outlined the aims and objectives of the conference. The convention was attended by World Federation volunteers, delegates, invitees and observers at the Conference.

The theme of the first introductory session was a discussion on the workings and progress of the scheme. A DVD showing clips of the team’s recent trip to India was screened. The program then went on to include personal accounts from two ZCSS graduates: MohammadAbbas Burmawala and Mohammed Imran Azir. MohammadAbbas gave an impassioned history of his life; the eighth child and first son of a Gujarati family. Through the help of ZCSS he was able to complete his Information Engineering Degree: costing the donors $10,000. His recommendations to the World Federation focussed on making a difference to even only a few families like his own, which will be taken up for further research. Mohammed Azir focussed on the benefits of knowledge. He too started within the ZCSS scheme in primary education when the cost of schooling was prohibitive for his family. After his graduation through the scheme, he has been working as an IT teacher and is now driven to give back to the community. He is now a successful IT consultant and a businessman.

Both the talks highlighted the benefits of the scheme. Their personal accounts made the images vivid and the benefits real to all.

The convention then focussed on the future of ZCSS, building on the previous 25 years of service on the motto “To Eradicate Poverty through Literacy.” Higher Education was outlined as the mission for the next 3 years, facilitating students to complete their education enabling them to look after their families and communities. ZCSS also stressed their commitment in making their workings more transparent and creating greater levels of accountability.

The program ended with questions for discussion by the participants. Below are some of the themes that came out from the discussions:

Quality of Education

• Quality of teachers and heads was mentioned frequently. A suggestion was to have professionals running the school, or to train current staff to ensure professional levels.
• Career counselling sessions to guide students on their future goals
• Extra tuitions to work harder in improving education levels
• Identifying different ways of motivating students to study
• Identifying weak students and introducing methods of giving them special attention

Transparency

• Accountability was stressed on, which could be done in various ways, some mentioned were a breakdown of income and expenses for the agents and to have audited accounts on a quarterly basis
• Constant progress reports was equally stressed upon, some suggesting it on a monthly basis, with others proposing a hands-on use of technology. It was also proposed that agents should elaborate more on successes and failures.
• External and internal auditing was also mentioned, external done by third party organisations and internal possibly been done by paid inspectors, with ZCSS ensuring these are followed.

Sourcing of Higher Education Funds

• It was proposed that ZCSS should invest in fixed assets, through long-term life insurance policies and buildings and endowments and possibly loans from banks.
• It was mentioned that in the interim sponsorships should still be maintained
• It was also suggested that successful students who have benefited from this scheme must be encouraged to donate for the benefit of others.
• It was also mentioned that some students must be assisted through loans, with a system in place for the recovery of funds.
• It was highlighted that agencies must be professional in their approach.