Naslie Styer
Four years ago this was the only Islamic school in the Campbelltown area

Naslie Styer is the Principal of Qibla College, an independent primary school in Minto that offers Islamic Studies and Arabic as part of its daily curriculum.

I initially settled in this area because this is where my family-in-law settled almost 17 years ago. Many South African Muslims settled in this area and it was natural for them to establish a mosque. Qibla College is located on the premises of our mosque and the school is now 11 years. It was the first Islamic school to be established in the Campbelltown area and up until four years ago, this was the only Islamic school in this area. Before taking up this position, I taught at a variety of public and independent schools. I now have a wonderful opportunity to serve my community and be an active role model for our youth.

We have not had any resistance or negative feedback from the community in Campbelltown. Two years ago we arrived at school on a Monday morning and found the walls at our school graffitied — very racist remarks. We called the police and they ensured us that they would keep an eye on our premises. We just cleaned off our walls and used this incident as a springboard for our lessons on respect, prejudism and tolerance for all nationalities and cultures.

At the time of the Cronulla riots, we were supposed to have our end-of-term school picnic in Pembroke Road Park, but we decided to cancel. The night before tyres were slashed and windows of cars were smashed where Muslim families were living. We did not want to risk the safety of our students and thus we decided to have our picnic in our school grounds.

I love teaching and working with the students and teachers. When I was at school the main method used by teachers was “talk and chalk.” I found certain subjects very boring and from this I learnt that we should make our lessons interesting and relevant to our students. It is imperative that our students see how their subjects are related to the real world and how they can apply their acquired knowledge to their everyday lives.

This is my fourth year at QC and we are actually one big family — many students are brother, sisters, cousins or neighbours. I still keep in touch with friends at the public schools and other independent schools and we are always discussing events, books, professional development days. I immigrated to Australia from South Africa and this is my twentyfirst year in the teaching profession and I still love it!