AFRICANEWS

Malawi

Protest against religious and moral education

Religion

A controversy surrounds the introduction of Religious and Moral Education (RME) in Malawian schools. This has created tensions between Christians and Muslims in Malawi.

Malawi, a country in Southern Africa and constitutionally a secular state has no state religion. According to Section 33 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi adopted in 1995, "Every person shall have the right to freedom of conscience, religion, belief and thought, and to academic freedom."

However, the introduction of Religious and Moral Education have created a controversy which has forced the subject to be put on hold.

The Malawi Catholic Bishops protested early last month against the introduction of the new subject which includes Islam, forcing the Ministry of Education to put the subject on hold until further consultations.

Blantyre Archdiocese Secretary Rev. Father Vincent Kamoto said the introduction of the Islamic concept in the school curriculum will only benefit a particular sect, a move, he said, the Bishops are not in favour.

According to Father Kamoto, "the subject has replaced Bible Knowledge which never concentrated on one religion but addressed Christianity as a whole and the introduction of Islam instead is like introducing Catholicism, which many people would not support as well."

Critics say, Islam dominates the content of the new subject. Teachers have said 50 per cent of the new subject contained Islamic studies.

On February 21 the Daily Times, carried a commentary, "Multifaith Suspicious" saying that "In the rationale of the syllabus on page 18, it states that this syllabus covers multifaith instructions cutting across three major religions. Now that is a joke and a bluff in one. A joke because there is only one major faith in Malawi which is Christianity which covers 85 per cent of the population, whilst Islam and African Traditional religions amount to under 15 per cent. Call this major? The bluff lies where the education Ministry assumes people are going to fall for this!"

The Daily Times further said, "Can the Ministry of Education justify how it arrived at this conclusion that minor religions like Islam and traditional rituals make two thirds of the overall religions in Malawi? Or is the Ministry fulfilling a mandate by creating a syllabus whose end result is to inculcate Islam in the minds of Malawi's youth through the backdoor?"

According to New People Magazines, 'Africa 2000 Special Issue of January, 2000, Malawi has a population of 10.5 million people and an average growth of 3.1 per cent per annum, has 25 per cent Catholics, 20 per cent other Christians, 8 per cent Muslims, and 47 per cent traditional religions and others.

Recently, the Malawi Government, under the leadership of President Bakili Muluzi himself a Muslim, has been establishing relations with Arab countries. Malawi recently opened an Embassy in Libya. According to the Daily Times, "Malawi Government's tango with Arabs nations has been without its consequences on the country offering tangible signs that Islam has made inroads into Malawi Society. Arabic strong, if you like. Hence the trumped up syllabus"

More churches have joined the outcry against the introduction of the subject, accusing the Ministry of Education of never consulting them, contrary to its claims of wide consultations with various religious denominations.

The Charismatic and Pentecostal Association of Malawi (CHAPEM) bemoaned the Ministry's pushy attitude and blamed Muslims for wishing to have things their way.

In an interview with the Nation Newspaper, CHAPEM's Chair Geoffrey Matoga said, "It is not true that the majority of Church denominations were consulted. It seems one minority group is exalting itself above the majority."

Analysts and CHAPEM have expressed concern that Islam is getting upper hand in Malawi as evidenced by the mushrooming of Halaal food in Restaurants, declaration of Eid as a national holiday by President Bakili Muluzi without Parliamentary consent, the change of the school calendar to fit cultural initiation programmes, which they claim have an Islamic orientation.

Since President Muluzi came to power in 1994, there has been a proliferation of more Mosques throughout the country. This, analysts believe is because of the President's connection with Arab countries.

But the curriculum specialist at the Malawi Institute of Education Rev. D. Mphande who coordinated the development of Religious and Moral Education, admitted that some churches which came late on the scene or were banned during the one-party era, like The Jehovah's witnesses, were not consulted, but instead all major churches were consulted. Rev. Mphande also denied allegations that the teaching material contains more that 50% Islam.

In defending the new subject, Rev. Mphande said, "Religious and Moral Education will enable students to appreciate spiritual, moral and cultural values from more than one religion as the new subject content covers balanced, multi-faith instructions, cutting across the three faiths in Malawi, namely Christianity, Islam and African traditional religions." However, the question of consultations did not go well with the Catholic Church. Father Vincent Kamoto said, "If the Catholic Church was represented during the consultation, who represented it?"

Towards the end of February, President Muluzi directed that the subject be put on hold after wide consultations were held. In reaction, the Ministry of Education wrote to all schools to put the subject on hold until consultations were exhausted and a solution found.

On February 29, Bishop Daniel Mnkhumbwe, President of Congress of National Unity (CONU) wrote in the Daily Times, "CONU believes in freedom of religion but not in eroding and dissolving all unique features of Christian faith. We cannot condone dissolution of fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith in order to be at par with other religions which clearly and openly dispute the teachings of Christianity. There is no way Christianity can weaken its values for the sake of religious freedom."

And D.D. Phiri, Director of Aggrey Memorial School wrote in the Nation Newspaper on March 7, saying, "Do not make Religious Studies artificially difficult by introducing into it concepts and terminologies of other disciplines. Dr Phiri argued that Religious Studies should be taught as a matter of fact and not like logic or philosophy.

In reaction to the directive by President Muluzi that religious and Moral Education be put on hold, the Muslims Association in Malawi (MAM) met President Muluzi on March 2 and issued an ultimatum that the President should reverse the decision within three days. MAM warned on the same day that there would be chaos in the country if the President did not reverse his directive to put on hold the inclusion of proposed mutli-faith syllabus which includes Islamic studies.

A statement issued by MAM on March 2 and signed by the Association's Chairman Sheik Omar Wochi and Secretary General Ronald Mangani said, "Muslims are widely disparaged by the directive as it takes away the little they have achieved in this area over the last 20 or so years."

The statement further said, "Muslims in Malawi feel that Your Excellency is bowing down to the wishes of Christians, especially Catholics, whose motive is primarily to marginalise Muslims in this country."

Political analysts say President Muluzi fears the Catholic Bishops very much knowing that the Bishops led to the downfall of the former Head of State the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

On March 6, Mangani said, "Muslims want harmony with Christians but would not remain silent when Islam is oppressed. We cannot survive without acknowledging their existence. We want to coexist peacefully with our Christian brothers but that does not mean we have to suffer peacefully and silently".

Christians and Muslims in Malawi have been working together to bring about political reforms. They have coexisted through the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) an umbrella non-governmental organization, whose membership is drawn from Episcopal Conference of Malawi and Christian Council of Malawi and the Muslim Association in Malawi.

Malawi, well known for being peaceful cannot tolerate threats of religious war. Malawi News in its commentary of March 4 - 10, described the warning by the MAM as a 'childish statement'. The paper said, "Making childish statements threatening security cannot be tolerated. We want peace in this country because we have seen how religious wars have divided communities in other countries. Where there is no peace, there is no development."

On March 7, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Blantyre Synod met MAM to diffuse the tension. In a joint communiqué they issued, the two bodies said, "We appreciate that the general public was potentially and negatively affected by the articles carried out in the newspapers on the issue. Both MAM and CCAP Blantyre Synod were committed to the promotion of peaceful and productive coexistence of all religions in the country and to the maintenance of national peace."

The two further agreed to resolve the issue of the syllabus the process of productive and objective negotiations in which all stakeholders are involved. "There is need for religious leaders to encourage the spirit of dialogue and consultations on this and other issues of national interest", the two bodies said.

However, the meeting of the key players has not yet taken place and it is not known who will lead such a meeting. The new subject has become a controversial issue and remains as such in its present form. But Malawians hope for a peaceful dialogue of the issue.

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