BELGIUM GETS FIRST ISLAMIC SECONDARY SCHOOL

Brussels, 18 Dzulqa’dah 1436/2 September 2015 (MINA) – Amid growing demand for Islamic education, Belgium’s first Islamic secondary school will open next Thursday, accommodating scores of students who have been waiting for a place to pursue their studies.

“There is a strong demand for Islamic education among the Muslim community in Belgium but our schools regretfully cannot accommodate all the pupils and this year we have about 200 pupils who are waiting to find a place,” Mohammad Allaf, secretary general of the six-member committee of Islamic education in Belgium said, On Islam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The new school will offer places for 144 boys and girls, who have already registered. Nevertheless, there is still a shortage of 40 places.

According to the official education system in Belgium, Muslims are allowed to establish schools with the same Belgian curriculum and under the supervision of Belgian authorities.

These authorities also offer the salaries of the teachers in the Muslims schools.

“But the philosophy of the education in our schools is our responsibility in order to teach Islamic religion and Arab culture to the pupils,” Allaf said, noting that pupils in the Islamic schools celebrate all the Islamic holidays.

Two hours of special classes in Arabic language are held after the normal school hours in the Islamic schools, but participation is voluntary.

The normal education in the Islamic schools is given in the French language, due to the large population of Moroccan and Tunisian pupils in these schools.

Currently, there are three primary Islamic schools in Brussels.

The first called Al Ghazali was established in 1989, the second called the Pen (al Qalam) in 2011 and the third called Al Fadilah (Virtue) in 2013. The three schools have around 800 pupils.

“From this year we have been allowed to open an Islamic school on the secondary level which will open on Thursday 3 September and will be called Al Fadilah 2. This is the first time that a secondary Islamic school will open in Belgium,” said Allaf, who is a Belgian citizen of Moroccan origin.

Apart from Islamic schools, Belgium’s public primary and secondary schools offer two hours of religion classes for the recognised religions such as Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

Under this regulation Islamic religion classes have been organized in both Dutch- and French-speaking public education since 1975. The teachers of these religions lessons are paid by the Belgian state.

Belgium is the first European country to have granted Islam official recognition through a law of 19 July 1974.

Belgian Muslims are estimated at 638,000 out of a 11.2-million-population, according to numbers released by Pew Research Center in October 2010.

More than 25 percent of the population of Brussels is of Muslim origin coming from Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other African countries.

There are 77 mosques or prayer rooms in Brussels and over 300 across Belgium. (T/P006/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)