
The road to sectarianism begins with the kuttab
In a new wave of accelerating the religiousization of education, particularly at the early stages, the Egyptian government has shown enthusiasm for a plan to revive traditional kuttab schools and utilize mosques as venues for kindergarten education.
What are the real objectives behind this plan, and what are its implications? Does it truly aim to build a new generation or strengthen identity and belonging, as officials claim? Or is it a return to a patriarchal model of education—one grounded in obedience and submission to age and authority under the banner of “respecting elders”?
Fueling skepticism is the sharp contradiction between these measures and the government’s declared vision over the past decade. In both the National Human Rights Strategy and education development plans, the government had committed to modernizing curricula to reflect labor market needs and explicitly incorporate citizenship and human rights values. The latest steps move in an entirely different direction.
Among them: a recent amendment to the education law, passed by Parliament, which raises the minimum passing grade for religious education to 70%. The change was approved with no serious public debate or justification, despite its potential to add pressure on families and contradiction to the constitutionally enshrined principles of citizenship, tolerance, and non-discrimination. It effectively grants religious education disproportionate weight, even though its teaching often exemplifies sectarian bias and discriminatory content.
A claim to moral authority
In recent weeks, the rollout has gathered pace. Minister of Religious Endowments Dr. Osama Al-Azhari dominated headlines with official statements about reviving the kuttab. During the launch of a training course titled “Skills in Memorization, Effective Understanding, and Methods of Instilling Patriotism and Belonging,” he announced that implementation is now underway.
He claimed the new kuttab would go beyond Quran memorization to include secular sciences, moral and religious values, and the formation of a balanced Egyptian character.
In an unusually patronizing tone for a senior religious and political official, Al-Azhari declared, “Once the principles of the kuttab are finalized, I will visit Pope Tawadros II to share the values we will teach Muslim children through the Quran so that they can be taught to Christian children through the Bible.”
The comment sparked widespread criticism. He did not speak of a joint committee or curriculum development process—only of a one-way transfer. This reveals a mindset in which the state assumes ownership over truth, defining human values solely through the lens of the majority religion, and offering them to others as a favor. Such gestures are then repackaged as progress towards tolerance and coexistence.
Sectarian curriculum
What’s disheartening is how closely this discourse mirrors the revised curricula themselves. As previously analyzed, school textbooks are saturated with Islamic framing—not only on religious topics but across all subjects, from environmental issues to ethics, social solidarity, and nutrition. This reinforces the superiority of Islam over other faiths and belief systems.
Core subjects like Arabic, social studies, and religious education continue to present Islam—rather than citizenship or shared humanity—as the foundation of personal virtue and social harmony. This approach indirectly bolsters the ideology of extremist movements that reject equality and link rights to religious adherence rather than to constitutional guarantees or international law.
The idea of reviving the kuttab might have been received more positively had it been confined to its traditional role: enhancing religious education and Quranic memorization, similar to what Sunday schools offer within the Christian tradition. As a function of religious institutions, such a role would not have been controversial.
However, official statements from the Minister of Religious Endowments and the Prime Minister have framed the return of the kuttab as a bold initiative to rebuild the Egyptian national character. This framing demands that we view the measure through a broader lens—one that considers the future of education in Egypt. It deserves to be scrutinized and critically assessed, not celebrated unconditionally.
A nostalgic, obsolete model
Historically, Egypt knew the kuttab in various forms under Islamic rule. Some focused solely on Quran memorization, others taught reading and writing. But with the introduction of free, compulsory education and a modern schooling system, the kuttab faded into obsolescence.
It now survives in nostalgic scenes from old films, portraying elderly sheikhs forcing rote repetition upon children—symbols of a rudimentary model of coercive, memorization-based learning.
In today’s digital age, it is fair to ask: what role can such a system play? What draws children to it? And if it does offer secular learning, why must it take place in mosques and not in schools? Who decides what is taught?
Mosque-based kindergartens
One particularly confusing move was the announcement by ministers of the education and religious endowments of a formal protocol to establish kindergartens inside mosques.
At first glance, the initiative appears service-oriented and positive. Many children fall behind in reading and writing because they lack access to early education. Why not provide that access, especially when churches already operate nurseries—albeit informally and without government partnerships?
But the initiative raises serious concerns about deepening religious segregation and religious institutions’ expanding reach into public life—at the expense of a civil state. Kindergarten is a foundational phase, and according to the ministry, these preschools will be run directly by mosques, not by religious-affiliated educational agencies.
This raises a fundamental question: will these mosque-based kindergartens welcome children of all faiths? If all children are directed to mosques, some Christian families may opt out entirely, fearing alienation or potential discrimination. Alternatively, if Christian families send their children to churches while Muslim families send theirs to mosques, the result will be a quiet but powerful reinforcement of sectarian separation. In either scenario, the initiative undermines early opportunities for inclusion and social cohesion.
Another question looms: who will set the curriculum? Will there be oversight? Or will the institutional power and moral authority of the mosque deter scrutiny, even in cases of deviation from declared goals?
Social stratification
The most troubling aspect of the education ministry’s approach is its plan to generalize religious teaching models in early education. These approaches rely on rote memorization and suppress critical thinking. They deepen social and class divides: between rich and poor, urban and rural.
What Egypt needs urgently is a unified civil education system grounded in citizenship, human rights, and respect for diversity. What it is getting instead are performative decisions and publicity agreements that serve appearances, not children.
These are not new demands. Generations of Egypt’s educational thinkers have fought for them. Sadly, we are moving further away.
Published opinions reflect the views of its authors, not necessarily those of Al Manassa.