Focus on Germany London Office The Chandlery Office 609 50 Westminster Bridge Road GB London SE1 7QY Tel 00 44 20 77 21 87 45 Fax 00 44 20 77 21 87 46 feslondon@dial.pipex.com www.fes.de/london May 2006 Muslim Children and the“Right to Religion” The long road to Islamic religious instruction in state schools in Germany Friedhelm Kraft 1. Introduction Anyone who visits a school in Hannover or Berlin today will immediately notice one as­pect that is characterising schools to an ever greater extent: Pupils with widely varying migration backgrounds often domi­nate the picture. Ethnic and religious plural­ity is an everyday phenomenon in schools and the question of who is in the majority, or minority, will certainly vary, depending on the neighbourhood or catchment area. Children of German extraction have be­come a numerical minority at the primary schools in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. Religious education in the schools has by no means been left unfazed by this devel­opment. In many cases children of varying ethic and religious backgrounds attend school and Muslim children make up largest group by far. Although it is true that in many instances Muslim children attend either Protestant or Catholic religion classes, this is not the in­tention of educational policies; nor does it represent the will of the drafters of the German Constitution( Grundgesetz or“Ba­sic Law”). According to Article 7.3 of the Constitution, religious instruction is a“stan­dard” subject that“shall be taught in con­sensus with the religious denominations”. Consequently religious instruction is not a privilege reserved to the Christian churches. Religious instruction in school devolves from the fundamental right to reli­gious freedom(Article 4 of the Constitu­tion); freedom of religion is realised as a “positive” entitlement, contributing to self­development in school. It follows that all pupils are entitled to a religious education which corresponds to their religious convic­tions. More than 600,000 Muslim pupils attend school in Germany. A curriculum in the spirit of Article 7.3 of the Constitution – Is­lamic religious instruction as a“standard subject” corresponding to the pupils’ own faith – has not been implemented to date in any public school. The reason is at as sim­ple as it is complex. There is a lack of per­sons or organisations with which educa­tional authorities can interface – institutions which, as per the wording of Article 7.3, determine and can represent the“funda­mentals” of Islam and who enjoy the legiti-