Crisis in Tahrir

Salafi religious conservatives to lead Egypt education reform

| 9 February 2012 | Comments (8)

A classroom in Egypt.

CAIRO: If religious conservatives have their way, educational reform in Egypt will reflect their strict and literalist interpretation of Islam.

This will include separate programs for girls to teach them their “special roles and God-given obligations.”

A member of the ultra-conservative Islamist Salafi Al-Nour party, Shabaan Abdel Aleen, will be chairing Parliament’s new education committee.

Tasked with instituting much-needed reform to the country’s under-funded and under-performing educational system, the committee’s agenda will be important to the country’s future development.

The Salafi reading of Islam rejects speculative theology, considering the use of discourse and debate a foreign import from Greek philosophy. Salafis strive instead for a purer form of religious devotion that adheres to literal readings and dress and behavior from the time of the prophet, such as the all-enveloping black niqab with eye-slits for women and the short galabaya robe for men.

Beyond recommending that schools emphasize teaching skills most needed by Egypt’s labor market, the group’s al-Nour party website’s education platform recommends eradicating everything in contradiction with Islam. Their ideas include:

Curricula that conforms with Egyptian ethics and the moral values.

Hiring religious teachers to revise curricula to teach “true Islam” so students enter the world “understanding the importance of religion.”

Communicating that: “science, as a means to become closer to God, is not separate from religion.”

Developing curricula “distinctly suited to girls, commensurate with the nature of their God-given duty in society.”

Understanding that “not all teaching methods appropriate for male students are appropriate for female students.”

Teaching girls “their special role in society through specialized teaching methods that cater to their special nature.”

BM

ShortURL: http://goo.gl/YhYXS

Tags: , , , ,

Section: Culture, Egypt, Latest News, Op-ed, Religion

Egypt in Crisis
Religion in Focus

  • Pingback: Salafi religious conservative to lead Egypt’s education reform

  • Istambul75

    This will happen in public schools and the students come from poor Egyptian who support the Salafist, Egyptian society its more strict than ever, as for rich people who can put their kids in private schools they do not really care, what will happen its rich living inside resorts in the best life thy can have and the rest will live in a country ruled by stict islam.

  • Pingback: Aristoteles non dixit … « Zeyn au Caire & ailleurs …

  • Georgvs Rex

    Separate religion and state. Keep religious teaching out of education.

    The nations of the Islamic crescent will never advance whilst they suffer under the suffocating doctrine of dogmatic religion overriding logic and reason. The Muslim nations ceased to be a leading force in the world from the time the west entered the enlightenment. Largely freed from the restraint of religion, the west moved forward scientifically and socially to give a better life to its people, whilst the Islamic world under the control of the Imams and Mullahs stayed still.

    It has often been stated that the enemy of religion is reason. This is succinctly illustrated by this article where it states the Salafi reject “speculative theology…discourse and debate.” They say, in other words, accept what we say without question. The Salafi understand only too well that “reason, discourse and debate” will undermine their inflexible and illogical ideology.

    To the young ladies who may soon be faced with this insufferable nonsense: Your belief or non-belief in a god is in your heart, not in the words of some religious bigot who attempts to force feed his religious creed down your throat.

    No one who has even the slightest degree of objective thought would deny a young woman her right of choice of marriage, motherhood and a lifetime of dependent, domestic incumbency, should she care to accept it. Nor would that same person deny her the right to a university education and independent career as a doctor, lawyer, journalist or other high achieving profession. 

    Young ladies (and your mothers): Your advancement will be achieved by a secular education, not a religious one. The choice should freely be yours. Reject a predetermined lifestyle forced upon you by the closed minds of religious conservatives. The beliefs of the Salafi and other narrow minded purists have no place in education.

  • Smart Girl

    I look forward to my ‘special role’ being the next president of Egypt.  Thank you Salafi, for recognizing that women are smarter and more capable of leading this great nation. I look forward to your full support.   

  • Maf_577

    This is disgusting, having these religious zombies from the 7th century responsible for the education of our young people is madness.

    Woman’s “God given role in society”?? Hey Salafists, why don’t you let god do his own talking rather than you putting your words in his make-believe mouth?

  • Sjean1r1

    Girls should be taught how to be independent functioning members of society so as to help their families and their country.  A “special role” and “special nature” simply means their lot in life is to forever be second-class citizens.

  • Guest

    Entrusting the Salafis with the educational reform will take the country back 14 centuries! (Worse, since at that time Egypt was a progressive and highly civilised country compared to the rest of the world.) While the rest of the world is advancing, Egypt is rushing backwards. Add to that the problem of population explosion (about which the Salafis won’t do anything) and shrinking cultivable land, Egypt is heading for disaster. The country needs innovative solutions in order to solve the problems rather than going backwards. How can they leave education in the hands of backward minds?!