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Muslim School in Italy Applies for Official Government Recognition

Posted on: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Excerpt from article by Elisabetta Soglio entitled: "Islam, change in Quaranta Street: 'Ready to have school officially recognized'" published by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera website on 24 August

Milan: It is the first Muslim school in Italy that is requesting official recognition, that is, in other words, is ready to accept and follow the programmes of our [education] ministry and, hence, to teach who the Roman emperors were and how many regions of our country there are, to enroll teachers who have graduated and are qualified in Italy, to take on administration personnel on contracts based on national norms, and so on.

The story of the Milan school in Quaranta Street - with grades that were considered "illegal" until now, in the meaning that for the Commune and its School Department exclusively the Egyptian boys and girls who have been attending them so far do not exist - has reached a decisive turning point. By means of a letter signed by the legal representative of the "Arab school" and sent to the School Department of the [Milan] Commune, the community declares that "it formally and immediately commits itself to presenting within the next few months an application for the gradual commencement of an officially recognized school, beginning with a first grade of primary school and going up to completion of the first cycle," as is envisioned in the ministerial circulars.

Considering that the technical time for the collection of all the documents required by the law and for verifying the qualifications, which is done by the School Department, is rather long and we are already at the countdown for the reopening of school gates, the eventual green light to the officially recognized school may arrive only in the 2006-2007 school year. However, representatives of the Muslim community confirm "the commitment of the Arab school to carry out a bilingual teaching project" for the students to be also able "to take qualification examinations at the end of the year."

[Passage omitted]

Actually, the problem is that almost 500 Egyptian boys and girls attend a school that is not recognized by the state and, for this reason, every year are denounced for failing to attend compulsory education. It is school that has become the target of attacks by many centre-right political exponents who have many times called for its compulsory regulation.

[Passage omitted]

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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