GERMANY'S FEDERAL STATES WRESTLE WITH INTRODUCTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 000993 SENSITIVE SIPDIS PASS TO IVAN WEINSTEIN AND JENNIFER ELDRIDGE, EUR/PGI PASS TO NANCY HEWETT, EUR/DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: GM KIRF KISL PGOV PHUM SUBJECT: GERMANY'S FEDERAL STATES WRESTLE WITH INTRODUCTION OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CLASSES REF: BERLIN 845 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) This cable provides an overview of German state programs to introduce Islamic religious education at high school and university levels. Since the 3rd plenary meeting of the German Islam Conference in June 2008, Germany's federal states -- with varying degrees of engagement and success -- have embarked on a path of ensuring that Islamic religious instruction can be provided at public schools. Successive German Islam Conferences, launched under the aegis of the Ministry of Interior and chaired by Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schaeuble have attempted to draw up plans to formalize religious education in public schools and set up Islamic theology departments at universities. Only a few schools offer Islamic religious education classes, but pilot programs to increase levels of religious instruction in public schools and universities look promising. However, many of Germany's federal states are still lagging behind in their efforts to offer Islamic religious instruction, suggesting that the principal messages of previous German Islam conferences have not been fully heard nor implemented. End summary. GERMAN ISLAM CONFERENCE AND ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) One of the major conclusions of the 4th Plenary of the German Islam Conference in June 2009 (see REFTEL) was an agreement that Islamic religious instruction be introduced as a regular subject to be taught in the German language at German public schools. The 3rd plenary meeting of the German Islam Conference in 2008 laid the groundwork for this development by formulating the necessary prerequisites and options for the introduction of Islamic religious instruction, provided there was a consensus amongst all parties involved and Germany's legal situation was taken into account. A study published by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in 2009 -- commissioned by the Ministry of Interior for the German Islam Conference -- exposes several challenges the federal states will face as they attempt, in some cases, to begin offering Islamic religious instruction, and in others to enhance existing programs. ¶3. (U) According to the BAMF study, 25 per cent of Muslim school children attend ethics lessons, 5 per cent attend Catholic and 3 per cent Protestant religious education lessons respectively, and 11 per cent Islamic religious education when offered. More than half of the Muslim pupils attend no religious education or ethics lessons. This may be due to the fact that there are not enough classes. This assumption is supported by the fact that the majority of the Muslims (76 per cent) advocate the introduction of Islamic or Alevite religious education. The number of those who are in support of such measures is particularly high among the Sunnis (84 per cent) and a little lower among the Shiites (71 per cent),the Ahmadis (79 per cent) and the other Islamic denominations (69 per cent). Only 54 per cent of Alevites are in favor of introducing Islamic religious education as a school subject. Alevites were also asked whether they were in favor of the introduction of separate Alevite religious education in state schools. 64 per cent of Alevites answered in the affirmative. The same study also concluded that between 3.8 and 4.3 million Muslims currently live in Germany, a much higher number than anticipated. Expressed as a percentage of Germany's total population of around 82 million, the proportion of Muslims is between 4.6 and 5.2 per cent. NORTH RHINE WESTPHALIA - LEADING THE WAY -------------- ¶4. (U) Over the last decade, Germany's 16 federal states have achieved different levels of progress in providing Islamic religious education. Some have made no attempt to implement programs, but many have achieved quite impressive results, and several are beginning to follow the leading states' examples. The programs vary from large scale, long standing, multi-school projects to plans on the drawing board, just beginning to take root. The most successful projects at the moment are in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW). More than 8,000 Muslim students at 128 schools have been provided with Islamic religious education ("Islamkunde-Unterricht") since 1999. BERLIN 00000993 002 OF 003 ¶5. (U) The success of this pilot project led to a state-wide introduction of German language religion courses, compulsory for Muslim students to achieve promotion, beginning in the summer of 2010. This program will be led by 50 teachers, specially trained in Germany, who will follow a curriculum defined by the NRW Ministry for Schools and supervised by the German school supervisory board. In NRW, Muenster University was implementing plans to develop the state's first academic center and chair -- under the leadership of Professor Muhammad Sven Kalisch -- for training school teachers to conduct Islamic religious instruction. Unfortunately, Germany's Muslim Coordination Council (KRM) withdrew from the advisory board of Professor Kalisch's center as it did not agree with Kalisch's religious teachings. At present, Muenster University hopes to establish a second chair. NRW has no state-run Imam training programs. Private Imam training in NRW is conducted by the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ),affiliated with some 700 mosques throughout Germany. LOWER SAXONY - IMPLEMENTING PROGRAMS WITH MIXED SUCCESS -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) Since 2003, 29 public elementary schools in Lower Saxony have participated in an Islamic education pilot project. Unfortunately, there have been low levels of participation; out of the 18,462 Muslim children attending elementary school in the state, only 1,121 were involved in the project. This has been caused by the fact that many Muslim families find public schools too liberal, preferring mosques to conduct Muslim education. Since 2007, there has been a master's program in Islamic education at Osnabrueck University, but this also attracted little interest; only four qualified students participated that year (20 unqualified applicants from Turkey were rejected). Imam training with 4-5 chairs for 50-80 prospective students will only begin at Osnabrueck University in five years time at the earliest. BAVARIA, HAMBURG AND HESSE - PERENNIAL PLANNING -------------- -- ¶7. (SBU) In March 2009, the Bavarian government was prompted to offer Islamic instruction in German as a five-year pilot project after a successful trial period in two schools in Erlangen. There are curricula for all school levels, with the one for high school being a modified version of the others. Private plans to establish an Imam-training academy in Munich over the next five to ten years are in place. This training would be in German regardless of the origin of the future Imam and is designed to engender commitment to the values of the German constitution. ¶8. (U) In Hamburg, Islamic religious education remains in the planning stages with no concrete information available as to when and where it will be implemented. Islamic education instructors will eventually receive training at the Academy of World Religions in Hamburg as foreseen by a current project carried out by the World Religions Dialogue Interdisciplinary Center at Hamburg University. Segments of the Muslim community in Hamburg are critical of the prospect of Islamic education conducted at public schools, as opposed to offerings provided by mosques. In September 2008, a private Turkish secondary school "Alsterring" supported by the educational institute Alsterbildungsring e.V. and backed financially by a Turkish businessman was opened for all students. However, at present the school consists of only one class with nineteen students, all of whom have a Turkish background raising fears that such initiatives may be harmful for the state's integration efforts. In Bremen, a pilot project established in 2003/2004 was established to provide Islamic religious instruction in one school. ¶9. (U) In Hesse, there is an initiative by the Culture Minister to devise an Islamic religious education plan. A round-table discussion with Muslim associates is planned for the end of August to draft a concrete curriculum and prepare classes, but there is no set date for the program to be implemented. As for teachers, Frankfurt University offers training courses for the teaching of Islam and an Offenbach Adult Education Center has been offering integration classes for Imams since March 2009. STATES PURSUING SMALL PROJECTS -------------- BERLIN 00000993 003 OF 003 ¶10. (U) In Bremen, a pilot project established in 2003/2004 was established to provide Islamic religious instruction in one school. A two-course system for Sunni, Shi'a and for Alevis was established in Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2006/07, yet as of April 2009 only ten of the 4,700 public schools in the state offer such courses. In Schleswig-Holstein, nine elementary schools have implemented Islamic education courses taught by German speaking Muslims in the last two years. Instructors are required to receive a two-year training course. This qualifies them to teach their two hour per week classes dealing with the Muslim community, Islamic ethics, stories of the Prophet, the life of Muhammad, the Qur'an and the fundamentals of Islam. Finally, Berlin has no state mandated Islamic education programs, but in February 2009 the first German speaking private school for Imam training opened in Berlin-Karlshorst. The school offers a six-year training program where Muslims are educated to serve as prayer leaders for Muslim communities. It is financed by private donations. BRINGING UP THE REAR IN EASTERN GERMANY -------------- ¶11. (U) With the exception of the state of Berlin, no other state in eastern Germany (Brandenburg, Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony) offers Islamic religious instruction. The low number of Muslim residents and a lack of interest in the subject are the reasons provided by state officials for not offering Islamic religious instruction. There are no plans to begin offering Islamic religious instruction in these states in the future. COMMENT -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Schaeuble,s commitment to the German Islam Conference has remained steadfast throughout his tenure as Minister of Interior. There is no reason to believe -- whatever the outcome of the elections may be -- that a new German government will abandon this effort, although a strong domestic political actor with an interest in this area will be required to realize the conference's main objectives. After the 4th plenary of the German Islam Conference, Schaeuble stated: "The manifold results of the study on "Muslim Life in Germany", the various initiatives undertaken by the Laender (federal states) with regard to Islamic religious instruction at school and the encouraging signals sent by the representatives of German Muslims show that the German Islam Conference must be continued." Many federal states have answered this call, primarily driven by Muslim demographics. Others maintain that there are no significant Muslim populations in their respective states. The topic of Islamic religious education in German schools and universities will continue to remain controversial but there are signs in several of Germany's larger states that the issue is being tackled head on. End comment. Bradtke