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Iran

About 90 percent of Iranians practice Shi'ism(Islam), the official religion of Iran, Sunni and Shi'i are the two largest branches of Islam, with the overwhelming majority of Iranians practicing Shi'i Islam

The main religion which is being taught to students In Iran is Islam and its holy book called Quran. Students start to learn it at the elementary and secondary school (typically ages 7-14) and it is compulsory for them to learn it. The government try to hire teachers who are kind and convincing in order to teach religious content step by step to students. Other religions are not taught in public schools. There are some private schools for the recognized minority groups who have other religions, that is Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism . These schools are supervised by the Ministry of Education which imposes certain curriculum requirements. The directors of these private schools must be Muslim, with few exceptions

Italy

In Italy, Catholic religious education is a curricula subject for students attending primary and secondary school (ages 6-19), though students can opt out of religious classes and attend alternative courses instead. Alternatively, if religious class takes place in the first or last hour, non-attending students can enter late to school or go out early .

Data shows that the percentage of students who choose to attend religious class is in steady decline . In 2020, the percentage was 86% .

Religious education was first introduced as a mandatory activity in Italy during the fascist regime, following the 1929 Lateran Treaty , but in 1984 it became optional.

Religious education in Italian public schools is controversial. For some, studying Catholic religion is important to understand Italy’s historic, cultural and artistic heritage , while for others it is considered in contrast with the constitutional principles of secularity and religious freedom and also not appropriate for an increasingly diverse society . Some believe that religious education should be of exclusive competence of families and churches, therefore are opposed to religious education in public schools .

Turkey

Institutional education in general, and religious education in particular, is centralized in Turkey. This approach began with the Unity of Education Law, which was first drafted in 1924 and preserved in subsequent legal reforms and constitutional changes. Due to the secular revolution, previous practices of the Ottoman education system were abandoned. The newer Unity of Education Law was interpreted as totally excluding religious instruction from public schools. The newly established Republic of Turkey aimed to be secular and more western with the rule of Ataturk. In 1923, changes such as the acceptance of the Latin alphabet, which is taught to pupils in the national schools, and the Gregorian calendar took place in the new established country. With the closure of Madrasas, which were provided for the society to have religious knowledge and education, classes of religion were also abolished from the schools. Religious education such as Quran courses or other religious activities had to be controlled by the government and separated from regular education.

The situation changed in 1946 when the one-party period came to an end. The faculty of Divinity was introduced in 1949 at Ankara University to educate, raise and train Imams, carry out scientific research about religion, mostly Islam. In 1956, as a result of multiparty democracy, a new government led by the former Democratic Party was established. This government introduced a religion course into secondary schools. With the Democrat Party, religion started to show up as a lecture in the schools with the name of ‘The culture of religion and Knowledge of Ethics’ but parents had to give their permission. Furthermore, Imam Hatip schools were established in some cities of Turkey with a limited number of students. In the following years, until the 1980 coup, the number of Imam Hatip Schools and religious education increased in Turkey. After the military coup in 1980, religious education in school was transformed and became a compulsory part of the curriculum, with the "Culture of Religion and Knowledge of Ethics" course. The content of religious education was prepared by the state, which ensured that children were first exposed to accepted interpretations of Islam before being exposed to other religious teachings.

In the late 1990s, the right of students who are graduated from Imam Hatip schools was limited with the education reform bill. Moreover, the middle school Imam Hatip schools converted to regular high schools for students to continue their higher education with other fields rather than Theology or Dignity faculties as their wish. Besides, in the beginning of 2000’s a new law led to a decrease in the number of Quran courses because the law introduce for the students to attend Quran courses after they finished their eight year of education rather than five.

Further reading

• "Four Seventies Released", Ensign, November 1991.
• The Association for Asian Studies. "Session 93: Chinese Lay Buddhists in the Early Twentieth Century and the Question of Secularization: Four Case Studies." Association for Asian Studies, Inc., Mar. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2009
• "Faith in the System." Crown Copyright, 2007. Web. 29 Sept. 2009
• Department of Education. "Overview of Governing Constitutional Principles." 15 Sept. 2003. Web. 29 Sept. 2009
• A Cultural Study of Religious Education in America in Feng Chia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences pp. 149–166, No.18, Jun. 2009, Author: Grace Hui Chin Lin

External links

"Education, Moral" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.