Setting up lessons, books & subjects
Everything a student is marked on (their Qaida or Nazra reading, Hifz, and extra subjects like Fiqh or Arabic) comes from a framework you set up once in Admin → Education. This guide shows you how to add one, using a real example: an Arabic-language class that uses the Madina Arabic Reader book series.
1. What a framework is
A framework is simply a book or lesson set, broken into a list. Each row in the list has two parts:
- Area: the chapter, section or unit (e.g. Book 1, or Chapter 1: Taharah).
- Sub-item: the individual lesson inside that chapter (e.g. Lesson 3: The letter ba). This one is optional, so leave it blank for books that are just a flat list of chapters.
Teachers then rate a student on each lesson using the same four levels everywhere: Excellent, Good, Developing, Needs attention. You don’t set the ratings; they’re built in. You only provide the list of lessons.
2. The two families: tracks vs subjects
Every framework belongs to one of two families. Getting this choice right is the key:
- Quran-reading tracks: the child’s core Quran path (Qaida, Nazra or Hifz). Every student is on exactly one track.
- Subjects: everything else taught alongside the Quran path, such as Fiqh, Seerah, Islamic studies and Arabic language. A class can have several subjects.
Rule of thumb: attach a book to a track only if it is the book the child reads for their Qaida / Nazra / Hifz. If it’s something taught as well as their Quran reading, make it a subject.
There is no separate “language” setting. The language of a book simply lives in its name, so call the framework something clear, like “Madina Arabic Reader (Book 1)” or “Urdu Qaida”.
3. Prepare the lesson list (CSV)
The lesson list is uploaded as a CSV file, a plain spreadsheet you can make in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets and export as .csv. The first line must be exactly:
area,sub_item Book 1,Lesson 1: The Arabic alphabet Book 1,Lesson 2: Short vowels (harakat) Book 1,Lesson 3: Joining letters Book 2,Lesson 1: Sun and moon letters Book 2,Lesson 2: Simple sentences
A few rules keep uploads clean:
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
First line is exactly area,sub_item | The upload is rejected otherwise. |
| Exactly two columns per row | Avoid commas inside a lesson name; use a hyphen or colon instead, or a comma will split the row. |
area is required, sub_item can be empty | Leave the second column blank for a flat list of chapters. |
| Order matters | Rows appear to teachers in the order you list them. |
| Under 500 KB, at least one row | Plenty for even a long syllabus. |
You can start from the downloadable template on the Education page.
4. Worked example: Arabic lessons (Madina Arabic Reader)
Say your Nazra and Qaida classes also study Arabic from the Madina Arabic Reader. Because that’s taught alongside their Quran reading, it’s a subject, not a track. Here’s the full process in Admin → Education:
- In the Subjects section, type Arabic (or Madina Arabic Reader) into New subject name and click Add subject.
- Scroll up to the upload row and enter a book / lesson-set name, for example Madina Arabic Reader (Book 1).
- In “Which track or subject is this for?” choose your new Arabic subject (under the Subjects heading in the dropdown).
- Choose your CSV file and click Upload CSV. This creates the book but doesn’t switch it on yet.
- Go back down to the Arabic subject’s card. Pick the framework you just uploaded, choose All classes or Specific classes (tick your Nazra and Qaida classes), and click Activate.
Arabic now appears as a tab in each of those classes in the teacher Progress panel, and teachers can start recording against the Madina Reader lessons.
5. Worked example: swapping a Qaida or Nazra book
If instead you want to change the actual Qaida book your madrassa reads (say, to a specific Urdu Qaida), that book is the Quran-reading path, so it attaches to a track:
- Upload the CSV exactly as above, but in “Which track or subject?” choose Qaida (under Quran tracks).
- In the Qaida card at the top, select your new book from the dropdown and click Activate. It becomes the madrassa-wide default for Qaida.
- If just one class uses a different book, leave the madrassa default as is and set that class’s book in Class overrides instead.
6. Activating, overrides, and removing
A quick reference for the buttons on the Education page:
- Activate: makes a book recordable for teachers. Uploading alone does nothing until you activate.
- All classes vs specific classes (subjects): activate a subject for every class, or only the ones you tick.
- Class overrides (tracks): give a single class a different Quran book from the madrassa default.
- Deactivate: hides a subject from the Progress panel but keeps its history.
- Archive: fully removes a subject everywhere, including the parent portal.
That’s it. Set a framework up once, activate it for the right classes, and teachers can record progress that parents see in their portal straight away.