Kabul decides to open Islamic schools under government control, where general culture studies, computers and foreign languages will figure on the curriculum beside religious studies. Education Minister: “The enemies of democracy in this country are actually using education as a weapon of terrorism”. Teacher formation programmes for men and women also planned.

Kabul (AsiaNews) – Within the next two months Afghanistan will open its’ first Islamic State school.  The Kabul government has decided to start up madrassah with innovative curriculum in efforts to contrast the Taliban policy of transforming education into a “weapon of terrorism”.  The move was announced by the Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar. The project provides for the presence of one state madras in each of the country’s 34 provinces. 

 

Atmar warned “The enemies of democracy in this country, the enemies of stability in this part of the world, are actually using education as a weapon of terrorism. They have established for some time now across the border hate madrassas”. Afghans from poor backgrounds who are enrolled into these free boarding schools are ripe for recruitment into the Taliban insurgency. “They teach them hate and they teach them the kind of things that have no consistency with our religion. And as a result they get suicide bombers recruited from these madrassas and they get Taliban fighters from these madrassas”.

 

Atmar said it was now the government’s “ethical responsibility” to offer a tolerant and modern Islamic education, as many parents wanted religious schooling for their children. The planned schools should initially accommodate up to 50,000 children and are to offer 40 per cent religious education, 40 per cent general education and 20 per cent computer science and foreign languages; “This curriculum – maintained Atmar - would produce graduates who are more employable than those from traditional madrassas whose students could become teachers in religious schools, mullahs or even join the Taliban ranks”. The schools would be supervised by the ministry and community boards, which hope to promote female attendance.

 

The problem remains of forming a supply base of qualified teachers, which has almost disappeared in the 30 years of war which has marked the country.  According to official data, around 80 per cent of the existing teaching force of about 143,000 is not qualified. Atmar stated that the new generation of teachers will have a special focus on female teachers.

 

Local government’s lack of initiative in educating has been among the principal causes of a recent growth in Islamic fundamentalism in the provinces.  Left without a choice, Muslim families are forced to send their children to schools which are free, often funded by countries such as Saudi Arabia.  The tale ban army (“Students from Islamic schools) was and still is made up by people who have been financed to get access to degrees in the Afghan and Pakistani cities.  Along with their studies the gained experience in ammunitions and guerrilla warfare.  From this point of view, by opening schools and supporting education, the government is making a most important investment towards a future of peace in this area of the world.   

 

• AFGHANISTAN
• TALIBAN
• ISLAMIC
• STATE
• SCHOOLS
• TERRORISM
• EDUCATION
• PEACE