Quran lesson enters in school curriculum

ISTANBUL

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The Quran and the life of Prophet Mohammed have entered secondary school curriculum as elective classes enabling students to study these topics in class two hours a week and for female students to cover their hair should they desire during Quran courses.

The Ministry of Education recently announced the new weekly schedule for secondary schools, which included new elective courses on the Quran, the life of Prophet Mohammed and Essential Religion Information for high schools, daily Star and Bugün both reported. The new regulation was a joint effort by The Ministry of Education’s Directorate General of Secondary Education, Directorate General of Vocational and Technical Education and Directorate General of Religious Education. The council added the Quran and the life of Prophet Mohammed as electives for students in the 9th grade at all high schools in the country. Both classes will take up two hours each week while Essential Religion Information, Social Activities and Project Preparing electives will take up either one or two hours of a student’s academic schedule per week. Classes will primarily be taught by religion and morals teachers as well as imam hatip high school teachers. Students will not bring Qurans to school for the lessons, the report says, but female students will be able to cover their hair during Quran courses. The Ministry of Education’s official textbooks for the class will include the necessary texts from the Quran, while the elective class will not focus on the interpreted version of the Quran but the text itself.

Different religions and beliefs including Alevism and Christianity will be taught in the elective
Basic Religion Information class. Furthermore, Quran and the life of Prophet Mohammed classes will not be taught in minority schools. Minority schools will instead offer classes about the minority groups respective religion, the report emphasized.