Muslim Educational Institutions in Toronto, Canada (Study report)

Muslim Educational Institutions in Toronto, Canada is an article by Shaheen Azmi published in Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, (2001) Vol. 21, No. 2, 259–272. The following is a report of the article.

Independent religious education vs public education in Canada

Independent religious education as an alternative to public education has had a long history in Canada. Most prominently, Catholics, Jews, Hutterites, and Mennonites have long-established alternative institutions to aid in the preservation of their religious identities amidst the wider Canadian society.1 In comparison to these communities the Muslim community is relatively new to this country, but as was earlier the case with these other faith communities, religious sectors of the Muslim community have struggled with the full implications of public education on both their group and religious identities. The impetus to preserve religious identity and community in the midst of a wider secular culture has also led Muslims in Canada to look towards independent religious education as an alternative to secular public education.

The Muslim community in Canada

The Muslim community of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) represents the largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, and the impetus to develop independent religious education has been most developed there. By the mid-1990s the perceived need for independent confessional schools was sufficiently widespread in the Muslim community to be associated with the development of a number of full-time alternatives for the education of Muslim children in the GTA. By the end of 1999, 19 such institutions had been established in the GTA and in its general vicinity, and several others were being planned for.

It is important to appreciate that apart from the Catholic school system that is publicly funded due to constitutional provisions emerging from Confederation, independent religious education is not publicly funded in the Province of Ontario. The development of independent educational institutions is a major community undertaking that suggests great conviction and commitment on the part of the community in question. This is especially the case for a community that is still largely first or second generation immigrant-based such as the Muslim community.

Objective of the article

This study will seek to illuminate the rapid and accelerating development of confessional education in the Muslim community of the GTA and in its general vicinity. It represents a first effort to appreciate the rationales and aspirations of Muslims in the GTA and its surrounding areas that have decided to educate their children in independent religion-based institutions, and to give description and classification to the various institutions that have been established. In addition, this paper will also briefly discuss the wider theoretical implications of this development.

The research conducted for this paper was carried out over a period of several years. It has involved informal visits by the author to most of the educational institutions identified, and has included his own personal involvement as a teacher and administrator in some of them. Advertisement materials and journalistic articles about the institutions were gathered wherever possible. Qualitative interviews were conducted with several key informants between 1996 and 1999. In total, nine individuals had been interviewed in person over that span of time, and 22 others had been conducted over the phone. Individuals interviewed included teachers, administrators, religious leaders, community and school organisers, community activists, and parents, including representatives of various racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, as well as representatives from the Sunni and Shiite Ithna-Ashari sects of Islam. Up-to-date information on each institution was gathered in phone contacts made by the author with representatives of each institution in December 1999.

Conclusion

The recent development of independent religious institutions in the Muslim community of the GTA and its surrounding vicinity represents a clear statement that public education is in the process of losing its appeal among religiously active sections of the community. The development and proliferation of these parochial institutions represents a determined assertion of religious identity in the context of a public educational framework of official secular multiculturalism, which de-emphasises religious identity in favour of Canadian national and secular ethnic identity. It represents a movement that has been undertaken with considerable sacrifice and hardship, as it takes place in a context lacking public support for parochial religious education----all the more remarkable given the nascency of the community and the substantial degree of inherent ethno cultural diversity it exhibits. It is clear that Muslim parochial education is fast emerging as a significant factor in the education of Muslim children in the GTA. The movement towards Muslim parochial education should be placed in context. The movement is in its initial stages. The vast majority of Muslim families continue to send their children to the public school system. There are undoubtedly some that prefer this set-up, and who will continue to do so. At the same time, there are also likely many that would prefer to opt for parochial Muslim education were it to be conveniently available at an affordable cost. Until the movement towards parochial Muslim edu• cation is fully developed, public education authorities will be confronted with Muslim families in their domain who do not approve of many fundamental facets of contemporary public education. It will be important for authorities to recognise the presence of these reluctant participants in their programs. The potential for frustration, alienation, and hostility is great.

As the latest of Canada's religious communities to develop an independent and religiously oriented educational framework, the components of the Muslim community occupied with such concerns continue to struggle for the widespread recognition of their aims. Such recognition may call for educational curriculum, program, and policy development that accurately reflects the full spectrum of Muslim outlooks on religion, society, and public education, and which proactively seeks to provide reasonable accommodation where needed and where possible. At the very least it calls for an attitude that is respectful of sincerely felt grievances on the part of a religious com• munity that is frequently the target of prejudice and stereotyping.