THE HAGUE, April 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – An Islamic school in the Netherlands has signed a cooperation protocol with two Dutch schools with the ultimate aim of enhancing integration of young Muslims into Dutch society.

“Parents will play a key role in brining students together,” Rahmat Abdel Rahman, the principal of As-Soeff primary school, told IslamOnline.net on Wednesday, April 13.

The protocol, expected to come into fruition in the school year 2005/06, is designed to exchange expertise, organize sport competitions and hold joint seminars and activities on patriotism and integration.

“It also helps students stick close to their roots and ethnic backgrounds,” Abdel Rahman said.

He said the protocol is the result of earnest efforts made by the three schools.

“Had it not been also for parents’ efforts, this protocol would have not seen the light,” he added.

He said steps were taken over the past two years to build confidence among students and help them get closer to one another.

“Students visited churches and mosques to have first-hand experience about Islam and Christianity.”

Abdel Rahman, whose students are mostly of Surinamese, Pakistani, Somali and Moroccan descents, said the protocol will be implemented in accordance with the annual plan of each of the three schools.

Rashid Jamari, member of the Amsterdam municipal council, lauded the protocol.

“It is a golden opportunity to enhance integration and help students interact well with one another,” he told IOL by phone.

He, however, said more efforts are still needed to advance the dynamics of the integration process.

“We want now to translate the protocol into concrete steps,” he said.

“Only 3% of the Muslim students in the Netherlands study in Islamic schools, while 50% receive their education in government-run schools and the remaining percentage are enrolled at Christian-oriented schools.”

The Christian Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats are locking horns over religious education.

Under the Dutch constitution, religious and secular education is subsidized by the government, enabling Dutch Muslims to build more than 40 schools over the past two decades.

There are 30,000 Muslim students in the Netherlands.

Muslims make up one million of the Netherlands’s 16 million population. Turks represent 80 percent of the Muslim minority.

Since the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, by a hardline Moroccan for his insulting film on Islam, anti-Muslim attacks have been on the rise.