Hundreds of Azeri Muslim students have been deprived of education following a new policy which bans Hijab in the schools of the predominantly Muslim country.
Under the pretext of imposing reintroduced Soviet-era uniforms to secondary school students this year, Azerbaijan has effectively barred hundreds of female students from going to school, sparking outrage in the predominantly Muslim country.
This is while the country's constitution does not impose any restrictions on wearing Hijab.
Thousands of Azeri Muslims have held demonstrations to protest the new policy.
According to the Azeri Turan news agency, demonstrators gathered in front of Azerbaijan's Education Ministry on December 10, 2010, to voice their disapproval of Education Minister Misir Mardanov's comments.
The Minister had said that girls should comply with official rules on school uniforms, which forbid the wearing of the Hijab.
"What does it mean when a 16-year-old girl sits in a class with her head covered?” Mardanov questioned. "There is a school uniform and children should come to school in these clothes."
“Everyone can wear whatever they want outside the school, but there are some rules and laws in the classroom.”
Police dispersed protesters using tear gas and arrested more than 10 demonstrators. Officials have also stepped up security measures around the Ministry of Education.
Hundreds of Azerbaijanis also held demonstrations in Nardaran, a suburb of the capital Baku, condemning the government's policy which they said was adopted under the influence of Western countries and Israel.
Protesters set ablaze pictures of Mardanov urging the government to respect religious values and prevent Azerbaijan from falling into a crisis.
Banning Hijab in high schools also led to protests in the Azeri cities of Lankaran, Jalilabad and Masali.
Muslim communities in Azerbaijan blame the growing secularism in the country on Tel Aviv and accuse Israel of being behind anti-Islamic programs during the Shia mourning month of Muharram and the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Free Our Schools
Almost all children now believe they go to school to pass exams. The idea that they may be there for an education is irrelevant. State schools have become exam factories, interested only in A to C Grades. They do not educate children. Exam results do not reflect a candidate’s innate ability. Employers have moaned for years that too many employees cannot read or write properly. According to a survey, school-leavers and even graduates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. More and more companies are having to provide remedial training to new staff, who can’t write clear instructions, do simple maths, or solve problems. Both graduates and school-leavers were also criticised for their sloppy time-keeping, ignorance of basic customer service and lack of self-discipline.
Bilingual Muslims children have a right, as much as any other faith group, to be taught their culture, languages and faith alongside a mainstream curriculum. More faith schools will be opened under sweeping reforms of the education system in England. There is a dire need for the growth of state funded Muslim schools to meet the growing needs and demands of the Muslim parents and children. Now the time has come that parents and community should take over the running of their local schools. Parent-run schools will give the diversity, the choice and the competition that the wealthy have in the private sector. Parents can perform a better job than the Local Authority because parents have a genuine vested interest. The Local Authority simply cannot be trusted.
The British Government is planning to make it easier to schools to “opt out” from the Local Authorities. Muslim children in state schools feel isolated and confused about who they are. This can cause dissatisfaction and lead them into criminality, and the lack of a true understanding of Islam can ultimately make them more susceptible to the teachings of fundamentalists like Christians during the middle ages and Jews in recent times in Palestine. Fundamentalism is nothing to do with Islam and Muslim; you are either a Muslim or a non-Muslim.
There are hundreds of state primary and secondary schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be opted out to become Muslim Academies. This mean the Muslim children will get a decent education. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. Muslim schools give young people confidence in who they are and an understanding of Islam’s teaching of tolerance and respect which prepares them for a positive and fulfilling role in society. Muslim schools are attractive to Muslim parents because they have better discipline and teaching Islamic values. Children like discipline, structure and boundaries. Bilingual Muslim children need Bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, who understand their needs and demands.
None of the British Muslims convicted following the riots in Bradford and Oldham in 2001 or any of those linked to the London bombings had been to Islamic schools. An American Think Tank studied the educational back ground of 300 Jihadists; none of them were educated in Pakistani Madrasas. They were all Western educated by non-Muslim teachers. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. A Cambridge University study found that single-sex classes could make a big difference for boys. They perform better in single-sex classes. The research is promising because male students in the study saw noticeable gains in the grades. The study confirms the Islamic notion that academic achievement is better in single-sex classes.
Iftikhar Ahmad
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk