State schools should not teach religious doctrine, says Muslim community leader

Education offered to students in state schools should be secular and no religion doctrine should be supplied, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community president Laiq Ahmed Atif said today.Mr Atif was reacting to the request made by Imam Mohammed El Sadi that Muslim students be taught Islam at secondary school following the announcement that the Mariam Al Batool School would be shutting its doors for older students."I have been following the issue and I believe that religion and state should always remain separate. State schools should be providing secular education to all students equally," Mr Atif said.

The Ahmadiyya is an Islamist reformist movement founded in the 19th century and encapsulates a few million people in more than 200 countries.
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According to Mr Atif the students would then go their respective religious leaders for education, suggesting Imams and priests.
"If the state wants to give lessons on religion, then this should be a comparative study of all religions and not as doctrine but some basic points on the different religions," Mr Atif said.

He insisted that the state schools should serve to bring the students together and not to...

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