{"id":32069,"date":"2017-01-25T01:45:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T01:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/swaziland-orders-schools-to-teach-only\/"},"modified":"2017-01-25T01:45:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T01:45:02","slug":"swaziland-orders-schools-to-teach-only","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/swaziland-orders-schools-to-teach-only\/","title":{"rendered":"Swaziland orders schools to teach only Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Swaziland\u2019s schools opened for the new academic year on Tuesday under new government orders to teach only Christianity, a move criticised by opponents as fuelling intolerance of Muslims.}<\/p>\n

Officials said old textbooks were being replaced with new ones that mention only the Bible, and that schools were required to submit a list of qualified religious studies teachers ahead of the start of term.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther religions will not be offered at primary and high school level,\u201d said Pat Muir, a top Education ministry official, adding that the policy sought to avoid confusing pupils.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt tertiary level, they will be able to make a decision to learn about other religions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some surveys put Swaziland\u2019s Muslim population as high as 10 per cent, but the US Department of State in 2015 put the figure at about two per cent.<\/p>\n

Many Swazis combine Christianity with indigenous beliefs, and religious freedoms are written into the country\u2019s 2005 Constitution.<\/p>\n

{{Worsen religious friction }} <\/p>\n

Sahid Matsebula, a Swazi-born Muslim who works for a mosque near the capital Mbabane, said the government\u2019s policy could worsen religious friction in the southern African nation.<\/p>\n

The US State Department\u2019s International Religious Freedom Report said some schools have long sought to prevent Muslim pupils from leaving early for Friday prayers. (AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat plan does the government have in place for our children who are not Christian?\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be taught one thing at home and taught something else at school.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US State Department\u2019s International Religious Freedom Report said some schools have long sought to prevent Muslim pupils from leaving early for Friday prayers.<\/p>\n

{{Negative views on Islam }} <\/p>\n

It also said some Christian groups \u201cdiscriminated against non-Christian religious groups, especially in rural areas where people generally held negative views on Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new education policy comes after public complaints over Asian and Muslim migration into the country led parliament to set up a commission of enquiry last year.<\/p>\n

Some illegal migrants have since been deported, and Minister of Commerce and Trade Jabulani Mabuza told parliament that a law making it harder for foreigners to set up businesses in Swaziland was in the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Church leaders in Swaziland welcomed the Christianity-only syllabus.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristianity is the bedrock religion on which this country was built,\u201d said Stephen Masilela, president of the Swaziland Conference of Churches.<\/p>\n

{{Africa’s last absolute monarch }} <\/p>\n

Swaziland, with a population of about 1.2 million, has been ruled by King Mswati III, Africa\u2019s last absolute monarch, since 1986.<\/p>\n

The country suffers dire poverty and has struggled to lift its economy, and has faced international criticism that the government stifles dissent, jails its opponents and denies workers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

The Education ministry last week instructed all head teachers to ensure that the syllabus would not mention any religion other than Christianity, including Islam and Judaism.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Swaziland\u2019s schools opened for the new academic year on Tuesday under new government orders to teach only Christianity, a move criticised by opponents as fuelling intolerance of Muslims.} Officials said old textbooks were being replaced with new ones that mention only the Bible, and that schools were required to submit a list of qualified religious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-32069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"contributors":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32069"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=32069"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=32069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}