Belgium's first Islamic secondary school to open on Thursday

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Wednesday 02 Sep 2015 - 10:40 Makkah mean time-18-11-1436 (Image from OnIslam) Brussels, (IINA) - Amid growing demand for Islamic education, Belgium's first Islamic secondary school will open next Thursday, accommodating scores of students who have been waiting for a place to pursue their studies, OnIslam & News Agencies reported. The new school will offer places for 144 boys and girls, who have already registered. Nevertheless, there is still a shortage of 40 places. "There is a strong demand for Islamic education among the Muslim community in Belgium but our schools regretfully cannot accommodate all the pupils and this year we have about 200 pupils who are waiting to find a place," Mohammad Allaf, secretary general of the six-member committee of Islamic education in Belgium, told KUNA news agency on Tuesday. According to the official education system in Belgium, Muslims are allowed to establish schools with the same Belgian curriculum and under the supervision of Belgian authorities. These authorities also offer the salaries of the teachers in the Muslims schools. "But the philosophy of the education in our schools is our responsibility in order to teach Islamic religion and Arab culture to the pupils," Allaf said, noting that pupils in the Islamic schools celebrate all the Islamic holidays. Two hours of special classes in Arabic language are held after the normal school hours in the Islamic schools, but participation is voluntary. The normal education in the Islamic schools is given in the French language, due to the large population of Moroccan and Tunisian pupils in these schools. Currently, there are three primary Islamic schools in Brussels. The first called Al Ghazali was established in 1989, the second called the Pen (al Qalam) in 2011 and the third called Al Fadilah (Virtue) in 2013. The three schools have around 800 pupils. Belgium is the first European country to have granted Islam official recognition through a law of 19 July 1974. Belgian Muslims are estimated at 638,000 out of 11.2-million-population, according to numbers released by Pew Research Center in October 2010. SM/IINA