Optimization of Consumption in Divine Context: Basic Principles and Extension

ABSTRACT: The paper aims to analyze the behavior of Islamic consumers that how they can get the maximum possible satisfaction in divine constraints. Islamic consumers ought to be socially conscious economic agents. They will always take into consideration that what their consumption means for the rest of the society? In the Islamic theory of consumption, we essentially look for both “religious success and personal gains”. Islam believes in aggregate welfare but at the same time it does not ignore personal gain i. E. Maximization of personal utility or profit. A rational Islamic consumer will never spend all his money on material goods for maximization of his own utility. He will allocate some portion of his earning towards spending in the way of Allah (S. W. T), thus the total utility for an Islamic consumer can be decomposed into two parts; material utility plus eternal utility. We have assumed that eternal utility is at least as good as worldly utility (U, >Um) ¥ \ye conclude that total utility derived from spending on material goods plus eternal utility derived from spending in the way of Allah (SWT) will be at least as good as utility derived from the ncome of the consumer allocated towards the consumption of material commodities only. Finally, we may conclude that based upon the satisfaction of needs in divine context, resources will be allocated towards Islamically valid, humanly productive and economically efficient goods and services. PDF

Experimentation of Word Wall Strategy for Capacity Building of Primary Language Teachers and Grade Iv Students Through Vocabulary Development

The aim of this project was to experiment the Word Wall strategy for capacity building of primary teachers and grade IV students for vocabulary development. From needs analysis I came to know that vocabulary development is an urgent need of the school. Keeping in view the school's need, I planned and developed a participatory project to ensure sustainability of the project through equal and active involvement of two immediate stakeholders such as two primary language teachers and grade IV students. This project included three stages; planning, implementation and evaluation. Planning was involved in both pre-intervention and intervention stages. Pre-intervention encompassed development of action plan, orientation of the teachers to the Word Wall strategy and development of resources, and defining roles and responsibilities of project leader and teachers. It also included a pre-test that I conducted in order to evaluate students' current vocabulary knowledge. Setting a clear goal, objectives and activities were also a significant part of planning. Besides grade IV students' two language teachers were the direct beneficiaries of this project, and teachers' involvement throughout the process in planning, implementation and evaluation of Word Wall was significant. My role during the four demonstration lessons and two observations of teachers' teaching presentations remained as a clinical supervisor to facilitate and support teachers in developing Word Wall and its effective implementation in the classroom. The purpose of offering these activities was to enable teachers to provide multiple exposures to students for understanding of contextual meanings and retention of the vocabulary. The experience of experimenting Word Wall in a primary classroom revealed that continual addition of words on the wall ensured students' spelling accuracy and vocabulary retention. Moreover, Word Wall proved to be a motivational element for students' participation in reading, writing, speaking and listening activities. In the light of the project outcomes, it is suggested that the aforesaid strategy can be applied in similar contexts to expand students' vocabulary and develop their language skills and reading comprehension.