MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN THE EDUCATIONAL SPACE OF SWISS CONFEDERATION AT THE TURN OF THE 20ͭth – 21th centuries

Bohdana Sypko

doi:10.24919/2519-058x.14.197188

Abstract

The aim of the research is to compare different cantonal models of relations of secular authorities with religious organizations, to study the peculiarities of implementing needs of Muslim students and employees in state schools of Switzerland, to analyze the attempts to implement lessons of Islamic religious education in the cantons of St. Gallen, Lucerne and Thurgau and to assess the federal and cantonal initiatives, aimed at preparation of qualified teachers of Islamic studies, in order to research the perspectives of Islamic religious education development in Switzerland. The research methodology is defined by an interdisciplinary nature of approaches (history, law, Islamic studies). The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that it was the first time that on the basis of different groups of sources – regulatory and legislative acts, reports and press organs of organizations and profile commissions, as well as didactic materials for school administration, the place of Islamic community in the educational space of Switzerland was analyzed. The Conclusions . In spite of the fact that according to the Constitution of Swiss Confederation, the issues on education and religion were transferred to the cantonal level, the state, through decisions of the Federal Court of the national level, assisted to protection of religious freedoms of Muslim students (permission for visible religious attributes, special-purpose arrangements for swimming lessons, possible absence at the classes during the biggest religious holidays). It was established that the policy of cantons regarding Muslim community was often defined by external tendencies (the discussion on visible religious attributes and introduction of the course “Religions and Humanitarian Culture” concerned, first of all, French-speaking cantons while the attempts to introduce the system of Islamic religious education concern a range of German-speaking cantons). The pilot projects of IRE in St. Gallen, Lucerne and Thurgau revealed the need in establishing, in Switzerland, the correspondent system for preparing teachers of this direction and elaboration of didactic materials. The Confederation responded to this urgent need with creation, in 2015, of a profile branch by the University of Fribourg – Swiss Centre for Islam and Society. The perspective direction of the research is still the comparison of Swiss, German and Austrian approaches to preparation of IRE teachers and development of didactic materials.

Highlights

The “traditional” demands, for the Muslims of the West, to allow female students and teachers wear hijab, excuse them from swimming lessons, or, at least, conduct the lessons in a separate way for male and female students and, the main thing, to introduce lessons of Islamic religious education in the state schools, were expressed in Switzerland in a unique way as in this country the issues on relations between religion and secular authorities are regulated not at the federal, but on the cantonal level
For the Muslims of Europe Switzerland is a symbolic place – it was in Geneva that in September 1936 the European Muslim Congress with invitation, from its initiator Shakib Arslan, of all people of Islamic belief residing there, took place (Kramer, 1986, рp. 142‒143)
In spite of the fact that the state does not have a colonial past, the Muslim community of the Confederation has been rapidly growing within the late 20th – early 21st c., supplemented in the middle of the century with labour migrants and at the end of the millennium – with refugees

Summary

Introduction

The “traditional” demands, for the Muslims of the West, to allow female students and teachers wear hijab, excuse them from swimming lessons, or, at least, conduct the lessons in a separate way for male and female students and, the main thing, to introduce lessons of Islamic religious education in the state schools, were expressed in Switzerland in a unique way as in this country the issues on relations between religion and secular authorities are regulated not at the federal, but on the cantonal level.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion