He added, "If the former approach had a violent jihadi character, the new approach has a large deficiency toward women, in addition to a lot of intellectual and educational deficiencies that make the curriculum far from the spirit of the times and incompatible with applied sciences."
These reformist attempts are occurring amid a conflict between the traditional Islamist religious trend and the secular civil trend, which is fighting to change the curriculum entirely and replace it with comparative studies of religions. On that, Al-Monitor asked Tahir about the types of problems in the current curriculum.
He said, "First, there is no harmony between the educational materials. For example, in the subjects of religion and geography, there is a disagreement on why it rains. Second, religious education aims to build a sectarian religious identity for the students and calls non-Muslims apostates.” He concluded, “In effect, this approach helped create Islamic extremism and religious violence in Kurdistan."
Naqshbandi confirmed that religious schools have a role in producing extremists in Kurdistan. He said, "Most Kurds who joined [the Islamic State] had attended religious schools affiliated with the Islamic movements in one form or another, which is why they were closed." He did not contend that the 100 remaining schools are not producing extremists.
Shirko Kermanj is a professor at Kuala Lumpur University in Malaysia and specializes in religious education curricula in Iraqi Kurdistan. In a phone call with Al-Monitor, he said, "The serious problem is that the religious curriculum did not focus on child rearing, but the Islamization of the student. This is not the role of a school within an educational system, but a religious institution." Tahir agreed, saying that the religious curriculum in the province is "geared toward the Islamization of the students and makes them pro-Muslim Brotherhood.”
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