Proposal for Muslim elementary school

Islam in Europe January 15 2009
By Esther

Oslo. As far as I can find out the School of Peace is a Russian-founded NGO, with a Muslim elementary school in Denmark. The "School of Peace" will start its own religious school in Oslo to prevent Muslim children from being turned into extremists aboard.

After Urtehagen closed in 2004 after intense internal conflicts there has been no Muslim elementary school in Norway. Now the School of Peace association is applying to manage a private school in Oslo which will be Muslim religious.

According to the organization's objects clause, the Peace of School is an alternative for parents who today send their children to Koran school aboard, out of a feeling of obligation towards Islamic upbringing. this puts the children at risk - again, according to the objects clause - of being trained in a radical of extreme interpretation of the Koran and losing the feeling of belonging to Norwegian society.

City councilor for schools and education Torger Ødegaard will recommend the application, if the school would fulfill the formal requirements.

"It's because we think that private schools are a positive supplement to the public school," says Ødegaard.

"The parents must weigh what is best for their children. We work very hard so that the public schools in Oslo will be the best possible. I think that the public school is as good at that it can compete with, and it can compete with and which is a wholly different school. But private schools which adapt to the kunnskapsløftet [the Norwegian educational reform] and to Norwegian law and whose education has the students reach the goals in the teaching plan, I'm in favor of," says Ødegaard.

School of Peace wants to have a grade 1-10 school with 200 students - according to the plans, the first 100 will start in the fall.

It's not clear according to the initiators where the school will be in Oslo. The Ministry of Education will have to approve the application.

SV (Socialists) leader in the Oslo council, Knut Even Lindsjørn, thinks that the authorities should reject a private Muslim elementary school in Oslo. He's against religious schools, though the SV approved such schools in the new private school law.

"I think it's unacceptable to set up more religious school in Oslo. It reinforces the split city and maintains a type of division between us and them. We now have a very good KRL class [ie, religion class] in the school that takes care of all religions. I am very involved in having the Oslo school be common for everybody and being an including and diverse school," says Lindsjørn.

Source: NRK (Norwegian)