Dutch Ruling Coalition Divided On Islamic Education

Dutch Ruling Coalition Divided On Islamic Education


By Khaled Shawkat, IOL Correspondent

THE HAGUE, December 2 (IslamOnline.net) - The two parties of the ruling
Dutch coalition are locking horns over banning Islamic education in the
European country.

Press reports said the disagreement between the Christian Democratic Party
(CDP) and the liberal VVD party could threaten the future of the coalition,
which is already under heavy fire for an austerity policy adopted since
coming to power in 2003.

Deputy Prime Minister, and VVD Leader, Gerrit Zalm argued in a general party
congress in the southeastern town of Eindhoven earlier this week that the
government should ban Islamic schools.

He claimed that the Islamic schools were a testament to backwardedness and
an obstacle to social integration.

Zalm also told the party delegates that students in these schools were
lagging behind compared to colleagues in other schools and that they have
problems in mastering the Dutch language as well.

Confused

Zalm's claims drew fire from the CDP leaders, who dismissed the liberals'
proposed ban as a constitutional violation.

Minister of Education, Culture and Science Maria van der Hoeven, a leading
CDP member, stressed that the liberals are not fighting Islamic education
but chapter 23 of the constitution which allows private education.

Zalem had suggested suspending Chapter 23, claiming the move would serve the
national interests which he said are threatened by the Islamic education.

But the Social Democrats, with 43 seats against 28 for liberals in the
150-seat parliament, defended religious education, also including Christian
schools, in the consideration that it is part of the private education.

Under Holland's secular principles, laws should not indiscriminate against
religious beliefs, which means that Islamic education could not be cancelled
without a similar measure extending to all religious schools in the country.

Jan de Vries, a CDP lawmaker, accused Zalm of confusing between Islamic
education in general and the fact that some students in Islamic schools
might be having boor educational standards.

He maintained that Islamic schools, per se, are not necessarily worse than
others in the country.

Some 96 per cent of foreigners in the country do not attend religious
schools, he indicated, judging Zalm's concerns as unjustified

The CDP legislator also underlined that mastering the Dutch language is a
much bigger problem than to be blamed on Islamic education.

The problem could be found among many students of foreign origin, and should
be dealt with more carefully and from a larger perspective, de Vries said.

He cited discrepancy in statements made by VVD leaders with respect to
Muslims in the country.

The VVD lawmaker in charge of education committee in the legislature had
recently denied that liberals were waging a war against Islam, de Vries
said, asserting that Zalm's remarks reflect a war on Islam.

After the Dutch right achieved a massive victory in general elections,
Holland become yet another European country to replace the left with
extreme-rightist governments which have anti-immigration stances.

The defeat of Islamic parties in polls, leaving their meager representation
at seven seats , as well as the rising support of right-wing
anti-immigration List party, made Muslims fear that hard years are yet to
come.

Last year, the rightist Holland party has decided to dispose  its head Bem
Fortown for telling De Folks Grant newspaper on Saturday, February 9, that:
"Islam is a deteriorated culture".

http://islamonline.net/