Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/806571
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 APRIL 2017 6 TIM DIACONO IN the midst of an ongoing debate over whether state schools should teach Islam to Muslim students, a university lecturer has proposed a radical shake-up in the way re- ligion itself is taught at Maltese schools. Francois Mifsud, a lecturer at the Department for Inclusion and Access to Learning within the Fac- ulty of Education, will put forward to the authorities a plan that will replace the current dogmatic edu- cation of Roman Catholicism at schools with a new syllabus that will instead give students knowl- edge of different religions. "One of the challenges of educa- tion is multiculturalism; we live in a pluralistic and diverse culture and education must cater for this reality and prepare students to live in a multicultural society," Mifsud told MaltaToday. "Religious education is a cru- cial tool in this regard, as reli- gion is a means of understanding other cultures. Religion educa- tion shouldn't be about the usual catechesis that students learn at M.U.S.E.U.M. classes, but about helping students understand the phenomenology, history and an- thropology of religion." His plan is for religious educa- tion lessons to include both a top- down approach, where teachers will educate on the historical facts of different global religions, and a bottom-up approach, where stu- dents will be able to talk about and discuss their faith practices and experiences with each other in the classroom. "That will also help students realize that faith is about experi- ence, and not just about following instructions and orders," he said. "If we want our students to be creative and critical people, then we must start by reformulating re- News Academic makes pitch for inclusive religious education Francois Mifsud, a lecturer from the Department for Inclusion and Access to Learning, says that if we want students to be creative and critical people, "then we must start by reformulating religious education... We live in a pluralistic and diverse culture and religious education must start catering for this reality'" Laiq Atif is the leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community "State schools should provide secular education to all students irrespective of their faith" Laiq Atif