Years ago this should have been done.
Jordan tries to stem IS-style extremism in schools, mosques
AMMAN, Jordan — In pro-Western Jordan, a leader in the fight against Islamic State militants, schoolbooks warn students they risk ‘‘God’s torture’’ if they don’t embrace Islam. They portray ‘‘holy war’’ as a religious obligation if Islamic lands are attacked, and suggest it is justified to kill captured enemies.
Christians, the country’s largest religious minority, are largely absent from the texts.
The government says it’s tackling the contradiction between official policy against extremism and what is taught in schools and mosques by rewriting schoolbooks and retraining teachers and preachers.
Critics say the reforms are superficial, and fail to challenge hard-line traditions, and note that the first revised textbooks for elementary-school children still present Islam as the only true religion.
‘‘Islamic State ideology is there, in our textbooks,’’ said Zogan Obiedat, a former Education Ministry official who published a recent analysis of the new books. If Jordan were overrun by the militants, a large majority would join them “because they learned in school that this is Islam,’’ he said.
Government officials insist they are serious about reform.
The rewritten books will teach ‘‘how to be a moderate Muslim, how to respect others, how to live in an environment that has many nationalities and different ethnic groups,’’ said Education Minister Mohammed Thnaibat.
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Jordan tries to stem IS-style extremism in schools mosques - The Boston Globe
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Jordan tries to stem IS-style extremism in schools, mosques
AMMAN, Jordan — In pro-Western Jordan, a leader in the fight against Islamic State militants, schoolbooks warn students they risk ‘‘God’s torture’’ if they don’t embrace Islam. They portray ‘‘holy war’’ as a religious obligation if Islamic lands are attacked, and suggest it is justified to kill captured enemies.
Christians, the country’s largest religious minority, are largely absent from the texts.
The government says it’s tackling the contradiction between official policy against extremism and what is taught in schools and mosques by rewriting schoolbooks and retraining teachers and preachers.
Critics say the reforms are superficial, and fail to challenge hard-line traditions, and note that the first revised textbooks for elementary-school children still present Islam as the only true religion.
‘‘Islamic State ideology is there, in our textbooks,’’ said Zogan Obiedat, a former Education Ministry official who published a recent analysis of the new books. If Jordan were overrun by the militants, a large majority would join them “because they learned in school that this is Islam,’’ he said.
Government officials insist they are serious about reform.
The rewritten books will teach ‘‘how to be a moderate Muslim, how to respect others, how to live in an environment that has many nationalities and different ethnic groups,’’ said Education Minister Mohammed Thnaibat.
Continue reading at:
Jordan tries to stem IS-style extremism in schools mosques - The Boston Globe
.
