Study’s Turkish-born author believes some Austrian kindergartens could be producing radicals of the future.
Religious schools in Austria help create “parallel societies”, a new report has claimed.
The Vienna University study found 10,000 children aged between two and six attend a Muslim preschool. However, lead author professor Ednan Aslan has claimed some preschools could be responsible for producing the homegrown terrorists of the future.
Vienna has roughly 150 Muslim kindergartens and Mr Aslan believes at least a quarter have the backing of ultra-conservative groups.
“Parents are sending their kids to establishments that ensure they are in a Muslim setting and learn a few suras (chapters from the Koran),” Mr Aslan of Vienna University told AFP.
“But they are unaware that they are shutting them off from a multicultural society.”
However many are sceptical of Mr Aslan’s findings and have called into question his methodology. [The Independent] Read more
Muslim kindergartens are producing homegrown Islamists of the future and creating ‘parallel societies’ where children do not integrate, study warns
A row has broken out in Austria after a study suggested Islamic kindergartens in Vienna were helping to create ‘parallel societies’ or even produce dangerous homegrown radicals of the future.
Some 10,000 children aged two to six attend around 150 Muslim preschools, teaching the Koran much like Christian ones do with Bible studies, according to the study’s author, Ednan Aslan, a Turkish-born Austrian professor at Vienna University.
At least a quarter are backed by groups propagating arch conservative strains of Islam like Salafism, or organisations that see religion not just as a private matter but integral to politics and society, Aslan believes.
‘Parents are sending their kids to establishments that ensure they are in a Muslim setting and learn a few suras (chapters from the Koran),’ Aslan, a respected researcher into Islamic education, told AFP.
‘But they are unaware that they are shutting them off from a multicultural society,’ he said.
The study, published last year, has been jumped on by critics of immigration – not least the far-right Freedom Party – in the wake of attacks such as Paris and Brussels perpetrated by Muslims who grew up in Europe. But many reject Aslan’s findings, questioning its methodology. [Daily Mail] Read more
Islam Surveyed 