Question 1

Is this just a WhatsApp replacement?

Accepted Answer

It does what the WhatsApp groups, the paper register and the fees spreadsheet were trying to do - properly, and in one place. Parents get a clear daily picture instead of scrolling 200 messages, and nothing important gets lost.

Question 2

How much does The Maktab App cost?

Accepted Answer

A simple 18p per student, per month. No set-up fee, no bronze-silver-gold feature tiers, and every feature is included from day one. Pay annually and it works out cheaper still. Multiple sites are the same rate.

Question 3

Which learning systems does it support?

Accepted Answer

Qaida, Tajwid, Hifdh and Islamic Studies are built in, with level tests and history per pupil per system. You can shape the levels and merit cycles to match how your Maktab actually teaches.

Question 4

Is our data safe?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your records are stored in a UK database, in London, and access is role-based so staff and parents only see what their job needs. A few services we rely on process data outside the UK under standard safeguards - email delivery and card payments - and the privacy notice names every one of them. Your data stays yours: ask us and we will export it for you.

Question 5

Does it work on every phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes - it runs in any modern browser on any phone, tablet or computer, old or new. There is nothing for parents or teachers to install and no app store to go through. Parents can add it to their home screen if they want it to behave like an app, and teachers can take a register on a phone, a tablet or a laptop without anything changing.

Question 6

We are a family with more than one child - how does that work?

Accepted Answer

One parent login covers every child, and fees roll up into a single family balance. Teachers and leaders see each child in their own class, with the family linked behind the scenes.

Question 7

How do we get started?

Accepted Answer

Message us and we will set your Maktab up - classes, staff and agreements - and walk your team through it. Most Maktabs are up and running quickly, with no disruption to teaching.

Question 8

What is a Maktab management system?

Accepted Answer

Software that runs the administrative and teaching side of a Maktab, madrasah or Islamic supplementary school: who is enrolled, who attended, what was taught, what was memorised, what was tested, what is owed and what has been paid. It replaces the paper register, the fees spreadsheet, the WhatsApp groups and the folder of medical forms with one place all of them can be looked up from, by the person whose job it is to look them up.

Question 9

Do teachers need training?

Accepted Answer

Not really. The register is two taps per child and the diary is one screen, both designed to be used while standing in front of a class rather than afterwards at a desk. We walk your team through it when you start, and there are 32 recorded walkthroughs a teacher can watch on their phone between lessons. Most are marking registers on their first evening.

Question 10

How long does it take to get running?

Accepted Answer

Days rather than months. We load your students, classes, staff and schedule for you before you start, rather than handing you an empty system and a spreadsheet template. Most Maktabs are taking registers within a week of saying yes, with no interruption to teaching.

Question 11

Can we run more than one site?

Accepted Answer

Yes, at the same 18p per student per month - there is no extra charge for a second or third site. Each one keeps its own classes, staff, registers and timetable, so a teacher at one site is not wading through another site’s children. Leaders with permission can see across all of them.

Question 12

Do you work outside the UK?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Each Maktab sets its own currency and its own time zone, so dates, registers and money all behave correctly wherever you are. The platform is built to UK data protection standards regardless of where a Maktab is.

Question 13

How does Hifdh tracking work?

Accepted Answer

A teacher records sabaq, sabaq para and dhor in a single sitting, against a real mushaf they tap to mark the exact word a child slipped on. Progress is tracked by juz and by page, and a plan can be set for one student, a whole class, a teacher or the whole Maktab - the most specific one wins. Leaders get one square per student per day, so a child who has not been heard for a fortnight is visible rather than hidden inside an average.

Question 14

Which Quran prints do you support?

Accepted Answer

Three, including the 13-line IndoPak print. The reader chooses which one they see, and positions are stored by surah, ayah and word rather than by page number - so a teacher on one print and a parent on another are always looking at the same passage, and switching print never breaks an existing record.

Question 15

Can different children have different Hifdh targets?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and that is the point of the layering. A plan can be set for the whole Maktab, for a teacher, for a class, or for one child, and the most specific one that applies is the one that counts. So a class can follow the Maktab default while one child works to something slower, without anybody maintaining two systems.

Question 16

Can teachers take the register on a phone?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The register is two taps per child - present, absent, or minutes late - and a whole class is marked in under a minute. It runs in the phone browser, so there is no app to install and no separate teacher login to remember. Allergy and medical flags sit on the register itself rather than in a folder in the office.

Question 17

How do level tests work?

Accepted Answer

Pass, merit or distinction, recorded against whichever level system the child is working through, with the full history kept per pupil. A failed test resets cleanly and the retake is recorded as a retake rather than overwriting what happened - so a conversation about whether a child is ready to move up has evidence behind it rather than an impression.

Question 18

Can a teacher see other teachers' classes?

Accepted Answer

Not unless you give them that permission. A teacher sees the children in their own classes. Leaders and office staff see across the Maktab. Permissions are set per area rather than as one blunt admin switch, so somebody can be trusted with attendance without being trusted with payroll.

Question 19

Can parents reply to homework?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A parent can send back a written note, a photo of the page, or a recording of their child reading it - from a phone, with nothing to install. Teachers set the next homework from the same screen and can attach a Quran passage or a playlist to it.

Question 20

Can we run summer schools and one-off events?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You fill in a form and it builds a public signup page as you go, kept deliberately apart from your student records so a summer club does not enrol half the town into your Maktab. Programmes can be priced per term, per month, or with a set amount on every term.

Question 21

Does it handle staff pay?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Teachers clock in and out, their hours become timesheets, and the timesheets add themselves up into pay weeks for payroll. Nobody has to chase anybody for a paper sheet at the end of the month.

Question 22

Is there a contract or a minimum term?

Accepted Answer

No minimum term. You pay monthly, or annually at a lower rate, and you can cancel from the admin portal at any time - billing stops at the end of the period you have paid for. Your data stays exportable after you cancel.

Question 23

Can parents pay their fees online?

Accepted Answer

Yes, where your Maktab turns it on. Card payments go straight to your own account rather than through us, and every payment produces a receipt the family can see. Cash and bank transfers are recorded the same way, so the family balance is right whichever way somebody paid.

Question 24

Do you take a percentage of our fees?

Accepted Answer

No percentage. Where a Maktab collects fees through the platform there is a small flat charge in pence on each payment, which the Maktab absorbs - it is never added to what a parent pays. Your fee income is yours and it reaches your own bank account.

Question 25

How do fees work for a family with several children?

Accepted Answer

One parent login covers every child, and fees roll up into a single family balance rather than three separate demands. Each child still has their own agreement behind the scenes, so what is owed for whom stays clear on the Maktab's side.

Question 26

What happens if a family falls behind?

Accepted Answer

You see it before it becomes awkward. Outstanding balances are on the dashboard, agreements show what was agreed against what has been paid, and you can send fee letters for a whole term in one go. What you do about it stays your decision - the platform does not chase families on your behalf or lock a child out of anything.

Question 27

Can we still take cash?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and plenty of Maktabs do. Cash handed in at the door is recorded against the family the same as any other payment, produces the same receipt, and lands on the same audit trail. Nothing about the platform assumes online payment.

Question 28

Can parents tell the Maktab their child will be away?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A parent reports an absence in the app - which child, away or arriving late, which day or run of days. It goes to the office first, and only once the office approves does the register show it. A parent never writes a register row themselves. The reason the family gave stays with the office unless you choose to show it to teachers.

Question 29

Can both parents have their own access?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A child can be linked to more than one guardian, each with their own login, and both see the same picture. It avoids the common problem of one parent holding the only account and having to relay everything to the other.

Question 30

What if a parent has no smartphone?

Accepted Answer

It works in any browser on any device, including an old laptop or a library computer. And nothing depends on the parent being online: the office can record a payment, take an absence over the phone, or print what a family needs. The app is a better route, not the only one.

Question 31

Can a parent see other people's children?

Accepted Answer

No. A parent sees their own children and nothing else - not other families, not class lists, not other parents’ contact details, and not anything about a child they are not linked to. This is enforced by the platform rather than by staff remembering to be careful, so it holds even on a shared screen or a forwarded link.

Question 32

Do parents get notifications?

Accepted Answer

Only the ones they choose. A quiet push when the diary is posted, when a place is offered, or when the office replies - and each kind can be turned off. Nothing is sent for the sake of engagement.

Question 33

Who owns the data?

Accepted Answer

Your Maktab does. You are the data controller and we act on your instructions as your processor. We do not sell it, we do not share it for advertising, and we do not use it to train AI models. If you leave, you take it with you.

Question 34

Which other companies can see it?

Accepted Answer

Only the ones we depend on to run the service, and every one is named on our sub-processor page with what it does and where it processes. The list is short and we tell Maktabs when it changes.

Question 35

What happens to medical and additional-needs information?

Accepted Answer

It is treated as special category data and handled more carefully than the rest. Inside a Maktab it is visible to leaders, office staff, and to a teacher for the children in their own classes - because an allergy a teacher cannot see is no use to anybody. It is never visible to other parents and never used for anything but the child's care and safety.

Question 36

Is there an audit trail?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on everything - who changed what, and when. It is there for everyday clarity, and it is ready if safeguarding ever asks. Roles are explicit too: owner, head teacher, office, teacher and parent each see exactly what their job needs and nothing more.

Question 37

What happens if we decide to leave?

Accepted Answer

You cancel from the admin portal and billing stops at the end of the period you have paid for. Your records stay available for you to take with you, and we will produce an export on request. Nothing is held hostage.

Question 38

What makes The Maktab App different?

Accepted Answer

It is built around how a Maktab actually teaches, rather than around a general school database with Islamic labels on it. Hifdh is a first-class part of the system, not a text field: sittings recorded against a real mushaf, plans that layer from the whole Maktab down to a single child, three Quran prints including 13-line IndoPak, and daily oversight so no child goes unheard for a fortnight. Pricing is one flat rate with every feature included from day one, and everything runs in a browser, so there is nothing for a parent or a teacher to install.

Less paperwork. More Qur’ān.

What brings you here today?

Built for the people who actually run the Maktab.

See your child's week, on your phone.

Everything included. Nothing bolted on.

The whole Maktab. One tool.

Registers, finally pleasant

Homework that respects your time

Merits that motivate

Level tests, properly

Real finance, not spreadsheets

Parents who actually engage

Health flags surfaced

Built for supplementary

Watch the Maktab run itself

The things Maktab leaders ask us first

Where should we point you?

What brings you here today?