http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=85069&list=/home.php&Nov 26, 2003
Source: FT.com Via Muslim Daily Alert
Ala'din Alwan, Iraq's minister of education, has criticised the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for attempting to limit or ban Islamic religious references in experimental Iraqi school teaching materials paid for by the agency.
"Decisions about education in Iraq must be Iraqi decisions," said Dr Alwan, who added he was not consulted about the move. He said he would be reviewing the programme - a $4m (€3.3m, £2.4m) accelerated learning project for 500 students - in coming days.
The controversy started a few weeks ago when a western consultant working for USAID asked Iraqi ministry of education experts to remove verses from the Koran from experimental teaching materials for Arabic grammar, and replace them with neutral content. One of the experts disclosed this to the FT on the condition he not be named.
The western consultant, who works for USAID contractor Creative Associates International Inc (CAII), confirmed the request had been made.
Shannon Meehan, head of CAII in Baghdad, explained they were under strict instructions from USAID to fund only "neutral, apolitical and areligious" materials because the US constitution prohibited proselytising with US government money.
"If there is a sentence such as 'Praise be to God' in a grammar textbook, we will have a discussion about revising or changing that to a different sentence. We do not remove the lesson from the textbook, we simply change the sentence," Ms Meehan said.
USAID officials deny that they are the source of any pressure to remove religious themes from learning materials, and insist that all education decisions in Iraq are "Iraqi-led".
However, several USAID officials confirmed that guidelines exist not to fund school materials that violate the first amendment of the US constitution, which prohibits using government funds to promote religion. One senior USAID official said the guidelines are the result of a threat to sue USAID in the US, though the USAID press office knew of no such instance.
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This should go over well.