Austrian school teachers have sounded the alarm over Muslim children who are fasting during the Islamic holy month.
Due to dehydration and poor nutrition, the children—some of whom are as young as six—are constantly tired and are unable to pay attention in class. Several have even fainted in the classroom. This makes it incredibly hard for teachers to, well, teach.
Sports classes are a particular problem, given that children have to take part in physical activity without first consuming any fluids.
During Ramadan, which this year began at the end of February, Muslims abstain from food and drink between dawn and sunset for 30 days.
Though children of the Muslim faith are usually not expected to begin fasting until they have reached puberty, Austrian media reports that they are being pressured by not only their parents but also their fellow students to be faithful to Islamic traditions.
“In the classroom itself, there is massive peer pressure from individual children who more or less force others to participate,” says Thomas Krebs, the leader of a Viennese teachers’ union.
Many parents seem to have ignored advice by the Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ) which states that primary school children are not required to fast during Ramadan, and that their health should be a priority.
The revelations highlight the difficulties caused by an ever-increasing Muslim population in Austria—35% of school children in Vienna are Muslim—and Western society having to adapt to their traditions and beliefs.
Christian Hafenecker, the Secretary-General of the right-wing opposition Freedom Party (FPÖ) said it is unacceptable that “parallel societies” are developing in Austria, and warned that
a particularly radical interpretation of Islam obviously prevails among many parents.
The FPÖ has repeatedly called for a ban on political Islam and organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which have exerted considerable political and cultural influence on Austria’s Muslim communities through Salafist preachers in mosques, as well as cultural centres.
Mass migration is changing the face of the country, with a report revealing last year that a shocking 44.6% of first-graders in public elementary schools in Vienna lack the necessary German language skills to follow the lessons. Two years prior, the figure stood at 36%.
The rising numbers reflect poorly on the Austrian state’s ability to properly integrate immigrants into society and also highlights how the pro-migration policies of recent decades have ultimately transformed the Central European country.
