Focus: Morocco Reforms Religious Education to Fight Extremism

Catholic Schools to Ban Islam from Religious GCSE Studies: Senior Muslim Readers Brand Decision 'Very Disappointing' after Church Intervention

Former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain
Sir Iqbal Sacranie said the decision to ban Islam from religious
studies undermined greater tolerance between the faiths

MAIL ON SUNDAY: Roman Catholic Church ordered schools to teach Judaism with Christianity / The move ruled out teaching Islam and other faiths in religious studies / Edict has been described as 'very disappointing' by senior Muslim leaders / GCSE reforms mean schools are required to teach two religions not one

The Roman Catholic Church is at the centre of a row after ordering its schools to teach Judaism alongside Christianity in GCSE religious studies – ruling out Islam or other faiths.

The edict was described as ‘very disappointing’ by senior Muslim leaders. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the decision undermined Pope Francis’s message of greater tolerance between the faiths, and urged Catholic leader Cardinal Vincent Nichols to think again.

The Church’s move follows last year’s reforms to the GCSE exam. Under the new rules, schools are required to teach two religions rather than one.

The change was designed to drive extremism out of the classroom following the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot, in which individuals were found to have been introducing fundamentalist Islamic teaching into Muslim schools in Birmingham. Read on and comment » | Jonathan Petre for ‘Mail On Sunday’ | Saturday, November 7, 2015

Faith Schools May Lose the Right to Teach Religion from Their Own Perspective and Be Forced to Tell Pupils More about Other Faiths

MAIL ONLINE: Report says RE should be added to national curriculum / Fears that subject has been marginalised and is being badly taught / Faith schools would be legally required to teach standard syllabus / Currently RE is a compulsory subject but with no agreed content

Faith schools could lose the right to teach their own belief and instead have to give more weight to other religions.

A report by the Religious Education Council for England and Wales says RE has become marginalised and should be added to the national curriculum.

But that would make it a legal requirement for all school to teach the same syllabus, regardless of their faiths.

The report, a three year review of religious teaching in schools, could form the basis of a new curriculum when it is released next week. » | Chris Pleasance | Saturday, October 19, 2013

In Turkey, Religious Schools Gain a Foothold

VOICE OF AMERICA: ISTANBUL — As parents wait to collect their children from Mehmet Akif Middle School, one father appears deeply concerned. Recent announcements regarding newly Islamized curricula — ostensibly for training imams and other clerics — caught many parents by surprise.

"They will say, 'put a headscarf on your child,' and she'll have to wear a longer dress. They will try to bring more backwardness into their lives. Nobody wants this," he says. "We want our children to be educated following the principles of secularism. Until now it was like this and we were happy."

Converting schools into religious institutions known as Imam Hatips is part of the Islamist-rooted government's education reforms, which, according to some parents, represent a welcome change.

"We are a Muslim country and Imam Hatips are for teaching our religion," says one mother donning a headscarf in accordance with her faith. "It is important for my child. I want my child to learn his religion. All this criticism is an exaggeration because we are a Muslim country, so religion must be in our education."

Imam Hatips like this one, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's alma mater and one of the oldest in Istanbul, were founded to teach imams. But the new curriculum, which combines normal education with hours of religious studies, are popular with Turkey's religious population. » | Dorian Jones | Tuesday, September 25, 2012