Germany to teach Islam to Muslim schoolchildren (Roundup)

Berlin - German schools are to teach Islam to Muslim schoolchildren, appointing teachers trained at German universities, German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Thursday. He was giving details of agreements reached in three years of unprecedented consultations with the Muslim community, which makes up 5 per cent of Germany's population. In one final document, Muslim leaders and government officials recommended that German schools make concessions on the controversial issue of mixed-sex swimming classes. An official survey this week found conservative Muslims object to their daughters being taught to swim in classes with boys. The parents want the girls to wear conventional swimwear and swim, but not where boys can see them. Some parents have gone to court asking in vain for girls-only swim classes. The survey found 7 per cent of Muslim girls to not attend swim classes because of the issue, and 10 per cent skip class trips involving stays in mixed dormitories. One of the documents issued at the end of the Islam Conference in Berlin was a good-practice brochure for schools on how to resolve the dispute over swim classes and girls wearing scarves in defiance of school rules. The conference documents said that where the pool issue becomes heated, separate swim classes were a 'sensible' solution. It says there is no legal basis for school rules banning head scarves. But the document added that Islamic practice does not require girls to wear scarves before the age of puberty. German education ministers will be asked to debate the recommendations this autumn. The three-year conference drew up plans to formalize religious education in public schools and set up Islamic theology departments at universities. At present, only a few schools offer Islam classes. 'The academic status is needed because Islamic theology based in Germany can offer appropriate answers to issues of Muslim life in the diaspora and participate in discourse on general political issues,' Schaeuble said. The conference began in 2006 amid government fears of homegrown terrorism, but became a platform for Muslims to raise concerns, especially over what they see as a failure of public schools to cater to their children. The meeting called for special aid for Muslim-majority schools including appointing more Muslim-origin teachers. Both sides also drew up a joint brochure, 'Muslims for Freedom and Pluralism,' saying the Islamic community supports democracy. Schaeuble said the meeting had not settled every issue, but had managed to 'fundamentally alter' the relationships between Muslims and the German state and was a 'clear sign' that Muslims were part of Germany. Both sides said they hope to resume the consultations after this year's general election. The conference was set up for the lifetime of the current government only. This week, data compiled for the conference revealed for the first time that 5 per cent of Germany's population is Muslim, more than was previously thought. Chancellor Angela Merkel met at her office with the Muslim community leaders before the three-hour final conference began, and said, 'We need your voices to understand the entire range of Islam in Germany.' She said heated debate at the conference on gaining permits to build mosques had led to proposals to smooth the process and pinpointed the officials to approach. Most of the work since 2006 of the Islam Conference, including information gathering, has been done by committees and officials appointed by Schaeuble. Divisions remain within the Muslim community, with liberal Muslims at the talks quick to affirm their support for the German system, whereas fundamentalists perceived continued hostility towards them from the German state. A newspaper, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, said one mosque group, the Council of Islam, representing conservative groups, refused to sign a call for full public disclosure of funding sources, calling it 'discriminatory.' 'We reject the declaration in this form because it is infused with suspicion in general towards Muslims,' the Council of Islam chairman, Ali Kizilkaya, told the newspaper. Fundamentalist Islamic groups in Germany have been accused by officials of taking secret funding from abroad.