The Limburg Islamic community wants to open an Islamic school in Genk at the start of the next school year, Het Belang van Limburg reported on Saturday. The establishment already has 50 students signed up. The Flemish paper says the Milli-Görüs movement, which owns eight Mosques in various communities in the province and schools in Brussels and Charleroi, are behind this initiative.
Those behind the initiative think the current education system doesn’t provide enough chances for young people of Islamic origin. “We are convinced that this disadvantage is not fatal”, explains Ramazan Erbas, the coordinator of the new school. It will be called Crescent College (like the lunar crescent). “We will also give lessons in Arabic and Turkish so that young people can better master their mother tongue. We will also be the first school in Flanders to provide an Islamic education.”
The Turkish community has also opened a school in Houthalen, called Lucerncollege, but it doesn’t want to be seen as a purely Islamic school. The Crescent College has said it is open to all students, whatever their religion. It wants to use the old Regina Mundi school buildings, but it is not certain whether this will go ahead yet.
The Flemish Education Minister Hilda Crevits has said she has not yet looked at the project.
The Brussels Times
