By IRNA,
Berlin : German Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere on Monday called on the country’s 16 states to accelerate their efforts in adding Islam to their school curriculum.
Talking in the south German city of Nuremberg, the minister urged the states to agree on a concept for Islamic religious classes by next year.
De Maziere said Islam classes in some of German schools should no longer be in a test phase but should in fact be established on concrete legal grounds.
Every German state has to come up with its own pragmatic solutions, he added.
Several German states are already having Islam classes on their curriculum, however Berlin is aiming to offer Islam as a regular subject in schools across the country, taught in German by teachers trained in Germany.
A main obstacle to starting such classes is the funding and shortage of Islam religious teachers.
There are among four million Muslims living in Germany of which around 2.5 million are Turks.