IMAN Chairman condemns ISIS banning of education
Viernes, 7 Noviembre 2014
ISIS cancels all classes except religious studies in Syrian schools because 'even the two-times table shouldn't be taught as all knowledge belongs to the creator'
DAILY MAIL
Islamic State has been tightening its rules on civilian life in Deir al-Zor province, which fell under near-complete control ofthe Islamist group this summer.
The government still controls a military air base and other small pockets.
The announcement came after Islamic State held a meeting with school administrators at a local mosque on the outskirts of Deir al-Zor city, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors all sides of the conflict.
'Islamic State informed them that teachers shall undergo a religious instructional course for one month, and that Islamic State officials were currently developing a new curriculum instead of the current 'infidel' education,' the Observatory statement said.
At the start of the academic year in September, Islamic State revised the school curriculum in areas it controls, eliminating physics and chemistry while promoting Islamic teachings.
Their latest move aims to further reduce the school day into several hours of religious learning at the expense of academic subjects, according to local activists.
Militants have closed all schools in the eastern area of the country pending a 'religious revision' of the syllabus aimed at replacing the current 'infidel' education, it has been revealed.
'They've announced that they will only teach religion and a little bit of mathematics.
'Their rationale is that all knowledge belongs to the creator, so even the multiplication table shouldn't be taught,' said an activist called Abu Hussein al Deiri.
Some locals protested when the school shutdown, according to footage posted online by activists.
It showed two dozen girls and boys appearing to be under 12 years of age marching with a few female teachers clad in black veils as required by Islamic State since the beginning of the academic year.
The children chanted: 'we want school'.
But activist al Deiri said that the protests were muted because most people were 'too afraid to demonstrate'.
Islamic State has detained, crucified, executed and beheaded hundreds in recent months in Deir al-Zor for 'apostasy', a crime of which it accuses anyone who disobeys or opposes Islamic State.
Responding to the news, IMAN Chairman, Ribal Al-Assad said:
"It is one of the main goals of ISIS to convert the school system into teaching a stone age curriculum based on a perverted and twisted ideology; not only will this deprive thousands of children of an education but it will also indoctrinate them and encourage them to adopt extremist tendencies.
The backward ideology of ISIS and other extremist groups has no place in the 21st century and these changes will have a lasting impact on society; it is yet another reason why these groups must be stopped as a matter of urgency.
I repeat my call for the international community to put aside their differences and come together to rid the region, and the world, of this problem."
