Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Belgium: Catholic education and Islam lessons

Mieke Van Hecke, head of the Flemish Secretariat for Catholic Education was interviewed in the Flemish magazine Knack last week, and spoke about Islam lessons and immigrant students in the Catholic education system.

"In a number of Catholic schools there are already Islam classes," she says. "I think it must be allowed on a number of conditions. There must be a considerable Muslim populations. The teacher giving the class must be loyal to the Catholic inspiration of the school and must engage himself in the school. And I would also want that there be a marginal review of the contents of the subject. The known instances will completely autonomously decide the contents of the life philopsohy subjects. Nobody has the right to change anything there."

Van Hecke added that she would like the government to review the contents of the Islam classes with regard to the civil rights of Belgian society, so that Islam won't be seen as contrasting with civil rights. Whether Islam does or doesn't contrast with civil rights today, she says, it doesn't necessarily have to be so.

Regarding learning creationism, Van Hecke said: "The question is whether creationism stands diametrically opposed to the minimal social rights and obligations that should be taken up in this society in order to be able to function. I don't think so. I know that it's very difficult." she added that it is a subject which maybe should be discussed further. However, she added that Catholic religious classes also taught creationism, without dismissing Darwinism entirely and that evolution theory is tested in several finals.

In order to help eliminate the learning disadvantage of immigrant students in elementary school Van Hecke asks for more flexibility, saying that she would consider giving mother-tongue instruction in several subjects so that knowledge acquisition won't be hampered by language problems.

Source: Knack (Dutch)