Children recite the letters of the alphabet under the watchful eye of three youthful teachers.
It is the first day for a number of children who seem to be mesmerised with all the work and play, but it is business as usual for others who have spent almost a year at the institution.
That is a typical day at Istiqama Nursery School, about 14 kilometres from Mombasa Town.
The school, the size of a standard two-bedroom house, accommodates 70 children aged between two and eight years
They are the beneficiaries of the Madrasa Pre-School Programme, which has helped to transform education among the Muslim population in East Africa.
The programme was initiated by the Aga Khan following a request for help by Muslim leaders in Coast Province after years of poor performance in national examinations.
Since its inception, first in Kenya and later spreading to Tanzania and Uganda, the programme has benefited thousands of children.
The programme, currently in its 25th year, has come a long way since the idea of establishing a unique system of education to act as a bridge between secular and religious education, was initiated back in the early 1980s.
The programme's silver jubilee coincides with the golden jubilee celebrations of the Aga Khan as the head of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, a responsibility bestowed on him on July 11, 1957 at the tender age of 20 years.
Poor performance
The Madrasa programme was set up after a team appointed by the Aga Khan to look into ways of improving education standards traced the cause of poor performance to difficulties encountered at the primary school level.
According to Mr Masoud Ali, Kenya's project director of the Madrasa Resource Centre, the programme was first started at a small mosque with only four children.
What makes the education system unique is that, unlike the Quranic Madrasa, the pre-school programme combines religious studies with conventional education to ensure a smooth transition from nursery to primary school.
"We used to have problems in that children who joined primary schools from the strictly Quranic Madarasas could not keep up with the pace as they did not have the necessary background of conventional education," Mr Ali explained.
At Istiqama, teachers Bahati Hussein, Wanajuma Suleiman and Eunice Kimeto not only teach the children English and religious studies but also basic concepts in mathematics, hygiene and history.
"The programme does not discriminate against children on the basis of religion although it is initiated by Muslims," said Ms Kimeto, a non-Muslim who joined the school's staff early this year.
Mr Ali said the programme has in the recent past seen an increase in enrolment of children from Christian families.
"We believe that by accepting students from other religious backgrounds, the programme is playing an important role in integrating and promoting mutual co-existence between people of different religious backgrounds," he said.
The director added that whenever a new facility is opened, the resource centre signs an agreement with local residents to support the project. They are required to contribute half of the total cost of putting up the structures. It is the community that pays the teachers and ensures that the schools operate as required.
To ensure that the local people manage the projects professionally, the programme trains them in leadership and management skills.
Several kilometres away is the Aga Khan Academy, the first centre of education excellence in East Africa.
The institution falls under the Aga Khan Education Services, one of the agencies under the umbrella body, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
AKDN was founded by the Aga Khan and comprises a group of development agencies dealing with health and education, architecture, culture, micro-finance, disaster reduction, rural development, promotion of private-sector enterprise and revitalisation of historic sites.
According to the director of academies, Mr Salim Bhatia, the institution in Mombasa is one 18 such institutions expected to be built in Africa and Asia to provide quality education to young people.