The Neumunster municipal council decided by a large majority that the city should be the first in Schleswig-Holstein to have a Muslim daycare centre. The two thousand five hundred square metre facility in the city centre will provide space for sixty children. It is scheduled to open next year and will also accommodate non-Muslim children. Places will be allocated through the state nursery portal. It will be run by the local mosque association, which is part of the Cologne-based Association of Islamic Cultural Centres (VIKZ), writes the international V4NA news agency.
VIKZ celebrated the 50th anniversary of its foundation last year. The celebratory speech was delivered by Social Democrat (SPD) Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeiner, who welcomed the fact that Islam had taken root in Germany. Criticism then came from within his own party.
Lale Akgun, a former SPD member of the Bundestag, said politicians should stop acting as bridge-builders and door-openers for representatives of conservative Islam.
In 2004, an expert report, commissioned by the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and carried out by Turkologist Ursula Spuler-Stegemann from Marburg, concluded that the student hostels run by VIKZ were almost exclusively for Islamic education and practice and were an absolute obstacle to integration. Pupils are taught strict Sharia-oriented Islam and are turned against Christianity, the West and Germany's Basic Law.
This did not bother the Neumunster city council. An overwhelming majority of the board voted in favour of the Muslim day care centre. Christian Democrat (CDU) politician Babett Schwede-Oldehus, chairwoman of the Social and Health Committee, stressed before the vote:
In addition to the Christian operators, the institution will now also have a Muslim operator. I see this as cultural enrichment.
The SPD also supported the Muslim kindergarten, only the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Heimat Neumunster (formerly of NPD) voted against it, but they only have three votes in the board. Unlike other daycare centres, where there is a pressing need for teachers, there does not seem to be a problem in the Muslim institution. Murat Kayabasi, president of the Merkez Efendi mosque, says that for years they have been preparing young people specifically in teacher training – they can fill 13 full-time positions without any problem.
The new two-storey building, currently estimated to cost around €2.8 million, is being paid for by the VIKZ, with the city contributing nearly €200,000 towards furnishings and equipment. In the meantime, the VIKZ umbrella organisation is planning further Muslim daycare centres, apart from the ones that already exist in Berlin and Dortmund.
Cover photo: Muslim children are becoming the majority in a growing number of educational institutions in Germany (Photo: AFP/Farooq Naeem)
