Egypt’s Al-Azhar denies plans to merge with education system

Egypt’s top religious institution, Al-Azhar, yesterday denied reports that there were plans to integrate its educational curriculums with the country’s national education system.

The announcement came in a statement issued by Al-Azhar’s deputy, Abbas Shuman, following reports alleging that the Egyptian Minister of Education, Tarek Shawki, had said he would integrate Al-Azhar’s Islamic education, dubbed Al-Azhari, curriculum with the national system.

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“After the publication of a statement by the Minister of Education, Tarek Shawki, on the integration of public education with Al-Azhari, we contacted him seeking clarification and he refused to talk about the alleged integration of the two systems,” Shuman explained.

The minister, Shuman noted, talked about designing a new education system for the early childhood stage in coordination with Al-Azhar.

In recent days, local Egyptian newspapers, including the state-owned Al-Ahram, quoted Shawki as saying that he was “discussing the integration of the public education system with Al-Azhar’s”.

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Al-Azhar is represented in a number of institutes and universities across Egypt. It delivers Islamic education alongside the subjects taught in the general public education.

Officials have been repeatedly describing Al-Azhar’s education system as “radicalised”, an accusation which the Islamic institution denies stressing that its educational curriculum calls for “tolerance and moderation in society”.