DUSHANBE, August 19, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- According to the preliminary data of the Ministry of Education (MoE), some 400 teachers are needed to teach course on Islam, Marifati Islom (Knowledge of Islam), at schools.

The source at a MoE said that only history and literature teachers that are currently taking refresher courses at Tajik State Teachers’ Training University in Dushanbe will teach the new subject “in order to avoid the possibility of religion and religious propagators penetrating into schools.” 

The source noted that the main topics of the subject are the history of religion, the history of Koran and the life of Prophet Muhammad.

This school year, the 8th grade students at Tajik-language schools will take the subject one hour a week, while beginning from the next year, the subject, Knowledge of Islam, will be introduced at Russian-language, Uzbek-language and other schools as well, the source added.