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MUSLIM

Muslim boys refuse to shake hands with female teachers

Male Muslim students will no longer have to shake hands with their female teachers, a school in northern Switzerland has said, a decision that caused an uproar in the country on Monday.

Muslim boys refuse to shake hands with female teachers
Photo: Broad Bean Media

A school in the northern municipality of Therwil, in the canton of Basel, reached the controversial decision after two male students, aged 14 and 15, complained that the Swiss custom of shaking hands with the teacher is counter to their religious beliefs if the teacher is a woman.
   
They argued that Islam does not permit physical contact with a person of the opposite sex, with the exception of certain immediate family members.
   
The local Therwil council did not support the school's decision, “but will not intervene as (it) is the responsibility of the school to set the rules,” spokeswoman Monika Wyss told AFP in a statement.
   
The decision triggered an outcry across Switzerland with Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga insisting on Swiss public television on Monday that “shaking hands is part of our culture.”
   
Felix Mueri, who heads the parliamentary commission on science, education and culture, meanwhile described the custom to the 20Minuten news site as “a gesture of respect and good manners.”
   
Christoph Eymann, who heads the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, agreed, insisting: “We cannot tolerate that women in the public service are treated differently from men.”
   
Basel-Country canton authorities, who have the power to overturn the Therwil decision, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
   
But the canton's education chief Monica Gschwind told media she viewed the school's decision as “pragmatic” although “not a lasting solution”.
   
Muslim groups meanwhile decried the polemic around the issue.
   
“One would think that the continued existence of Switzerland's core values was at stake, when this particular case in fact involves just two high school students who have said they wish to greet their teacher in a different way than with a handshake,” the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland said in a statement.
   
The group pointed out that “classical (Islamic) jurisprudence and the vast majority of contemporary legal scholars … assume a clear prohibition of this contact form (handshakes) between the sexes.”
   
The Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland (FIOS) however maintained that handshakes between men and women were “theologically premissable” and were common in some Muslim countries, insisting the issue should not be problematic in Switzerland.

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SCHOOLS

Why teachers in Swiss schools are worried about falling education standards

Switzerland is seeing a drop in standards at its state schools, especially in German-speaking regions of the country, teacher's associations warn and it's all to do with staff, or the lack of them.

Why teachers in Swiss schools are worried about falling education standards

Switzerland’s teachers’ association has warned of worsening school education standards because of a lack of certified staff.

Association president Dagmar Rösler told a news conference that an increasing number of primary schools have had to bring in supply staff who are not qualified to be a teacher. “The quality of our education is in danger”, she said.

“The new school year starts with a further worsening of the shortage of qualified staff. This is hardly surprising and the schools are paying for what the politicians have failed to do for too long”, Rösler said.

READ ALSO: Geneva’s private universities charge high fees for unrecognised diplomas, probe reveals

She added there is a need to train new teachers, reduce overtime work, and provide new teachers with financial support. In addition, Switzerland needs to “make the profession more attractive”, according to the educator.

Where is the situation worse?

Rösler said the situation was worse in the German-speaking cantons in Switzerland and that schools were having trouble recruiting teachers to fill vacant positions ahead of the new term.

In Bern, for example, there were still 500 positions vacant in May 2022. The situation, which was already bad, was worsened by the Ukraine refugee crisis. As schools resorted to “emergency solutions”, they ended up hiring insufficiently qualified stern.

Rösler said: “In the canton of Bern, about 1,500 out of 15,000 teachers are insufficiently qualified. Moreover, two-thirds of the professionals working in education settings in the canton of Aargau do not have appropriate qualifications”.

READ ALSO: How different is raising kids in Switzerland compared to the United States?

“Teaching is a demanding and complex task that requires basic training. Where this is lacking; the remaining experienced teachers have to provide support”.

“What is meant to be a relief turns into the opposite”, she said.

Rösler warned that the knock-on effect could see parents opt to place their children in private schools or homeschool.

What needs to be done?

David Rey, president of the teachers’ workers’ union SER, said that the emergency measures taken must become the norm and that recruited persons who are inadequately trained “must not be offered permanent employment”.

He added that “false solutions” such as having more kids in the same class just place an additional burden on the teachers.

READ ALSO: Zurich mandates organic food for hospitals, schools and cafeterias

For the professionals, the cantons need to recruit and hire more qualified people. They also ask governments to support the career start with a reduced workload to avoid “burnout” among young teachers.

“We must ensure that people stay in the profession for the long term with attractive working conditions, salaries that meet requirements, opportunities for further trending and protections against excessive work”, Rey said.

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