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You are here: Home Education School Dutch Islamic schools need to shape up

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01/12/2008Dutch Islamic schools need to shape up

Fake names on the payroll; entire schools taking trips abroad with school funds; school boards fired for incompetence. Just a few of the problems the government has found at Islamic Schools in the Netherlands.

Radio Netherlands visited an Islamic School in Amsterdam to find out why these schools are doing so poorly.

The Dutch Education Ministry asks Islamic schools to return 4.5 million euros the government says was spent illegally
 
The As Soeffah school is in one of the poorer neighbourhoods of Amsterdam. Founded just a few years ago, the school already has 400 children and opened a sister school in The Hague. Director Rahmat Khan Abdur Rahman sums up the characteristics of a Muslim school:

"If you would come to the school in the morning for the start of the day, you'd see the kids recite the Qur'an, sing Islamic songs, have a talk, things like this. 

The kids pray at school. We celebrate Muslim holidays. Of course, Dutch holidays are also normal at the school. We give them attention, too."
 Photo Flickr © amrufm
Bad marks
The Dutch education system is unique in the world. Families can choose where their kids go to primary school, and the government subsidises different types of schools - traditional, Montessori, Steiner, but also Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim. Moreover, 86 percent of the schools have misused government funds, including As Soeffah. And now the Education Ministry asks Islamic schools to return 4.5 million euros the government says was spent illegally.
 
Some of those funds are spent to bus kids to and from school. That's not an approved use of the subsidy. But As Soeffah director Abdur Rahman disagrees. He says the Education Ministry told the school to use money for bussing since his school is a regional school with pupils from a wider area. Otherwise the kids at As Soeffah are doing pretty well compared to other Islamic Schools.
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