The first Muslim nursery school in Switzerland which was planned to be opened this year will not open in Zurich. The Education Department of the German language canton has carefully looked into the proposal of the Al Huda association to open this institution for children aged between 4 and 6 where they could study the basics of Islam, and refused to issue a license.
The teachers of the would-be nursery school promised to train their pupils in accordance with the curriculum adopted by the Swiss Education Ministry, only adding lessons of Arabic and Quran. The children were to be trained in Islamic traditions, so as to consolidate the Muslim community in Switzerland.
Even though there is a significant shortage of nursery schools in Switzerland, the canton’s decision was predictable, the Swiss newspaper Nasha Gazeta reports reminding the readers of recent provocative statements of Nicolas “Abdullah” Blancho, a native of Switzerland who adopted Islam at the age of 16 and who actively promotes Islamic values. In January 2010 he established and headed the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland, well-known for its radical political views and supporting Sunni traditionalism which is a religious trend running counter to the tolerant version of Islam which Switzerland is prepared to accept.
The administration of the would-be nursery school is associated with that Islamic Central Council, the Zurich Canton Education Department reports on its web site. For this reason, the Swiss authorities fear that lesson plans for the nursery school would be written by representatives of “a fundamentalist organization.”