Omanis call for regulation of religious schools after child abuse cases

There were 36 court cases involving unlicensed private religious teachers molesting children in 2016, but campaigners say the incidence of abuse is far higher.

Omani social workers have called for regulation of private Quran tuition. Walter Bibikow / Getty Images

MUSCAT // Social workers and campaigners in Oman are calling on the government to begin regulating private religious schools after dozens of abuse cases last year.

According to statistics from Oman’s courts, there were 36 cases of Quran teachers molesting children in 2016, but campaigners say the incidence of abuse is far higher because not all cases are reported.

Not all of Oman’s Quran schools are registered because there is no law that requires it. The government is aware of their existence but they are allowed to carry on because it is part of a long tradition in the country to have the schools outside mainstream education.

There are no figures for the number of Quran schools in the country, but social workers estimate that there are more than 500 scattered across the sultanate.

“Fewer such cases go to court because parents of victims are ashamed to make it public that their children have been molested. It is not getting any better and the government must monitor and regulate these Quran schools to stop the abuse,” said Samir Al Naamani, a campaigner whose relative was abused two years ago.

One parent said his 11-year old daughter was expelled from a Quran school when she resisted the groping of the male teacher.

“I took the law into my hands and beat up the teacher then later reported it to the police. I got three days in jail for beating him up but because I had no evidence, he could not be prosecuted but his school was shut down,” the father said

Khadija Al Araimi, a social worker with the Omani Women’s Association who specialises in child abuse cases, said the lack of regulation made it hard for the authorities to catch the abusers.

“We have people teaching Quran in the back rooms of their houses or in the mosques. They don’t need licensing because Quran teaching is traditionally taught outside the normal school hours, either at weekends or in the afternoons. Because these schools are not regulated, some teachers quietly abuse little children and it takes time to detect it,” she said.

Last week, outrage erupted in the sultanate when a judge handed a minimum sentence to a confessed rapist who abused children sent to him for Quran and Islamic studies. Under Omani law, the statutory sentence for all rape offences is five to 15 years.

Typically, children attending the Quran schools are aged between 5 and 12. Smaller Quran schools, operated in private homes by friends of the families, may have fewer than 10 children.

However, mosques can take up to 100 students taught by several teachers. These two categories normally are free, but some established private schools conduct Quran teaching in the afternoon, after regular school classes and charge from 25 to 40 rials a month.

Other campaigners said all Quran schools, regardless of where they operate, must be licensed and regularly inspected, as they are in the UAE. Teachers must also be screened and approved by the authorities.

“There should be a ban on Quran schools operating in the backstreets without a licence and all of them should be immediately closed down,” said Marwan Al Hashmi, a trainee criminal lawyer at a law firm based in Muscat. “No one should open Quran schools without a licence, and teachers must be qualified and the government must screen them before they are allowed to teach the Quran.”

He also urged the government to ensure that the standard of Quran teaching is monitored, regulated and follows the government’s religious studies curriculum.

A ministry of commerce official said that Quran teaching falls under the category of “religious obligation” because teachers do not demand payment. However, he acknowledged there was a need to regulate religious schools.

“They are not commercial institutions and certainly don’t fall under the category of charity. However, because many of the schools keep being set up because of demands from parents, we acknowledge that they need to be licensed. We will certainly put forward the recommendations of the social workers and campaigners to propose the licensing and monitoring of Quran teaching.”