Gulf | Kuwait

Parents stage protest against music courses in schools

Fares Al Utaibi, a parent, said that the protest was part of the Islamic directives to promote virtue and combat vice

  • By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
  • Published: 12:40 November 16, 2009

  • The music courses have sparked a stormy controversy in Kuwait after Mohammad Al Hayef, a conservative MP, last month called upon the education minister not to teach it in the schools.
  • Image Credit: Supplied

Parents have staged a protest in front of a high school in Kuwait demanding that the education ministry cancel music courses.

"Music is not part of our tradition and religion and we totally reject it. What will our sons gain from learning this Satanic course? Teachers should instead focus on instilling good values in the hearts of our children," Saleh Al Khalid, a parent, said.

Another parent, Fares Al Utaibi, said that the protest was part of the Islamic directives to promote virtue and combat vice. "Music provokes the wrath of God and it should be banned without any hesitation," he said, quoted by Al Watan daily. "There is no benefit in music and it should not be part of our lives."

The music courses have sparked a stormy controversy in Kuwait after Mohammad Al Hayef, a conservative MP, last month called upon the education minister not to teach it in the schools.

His call was supported by a rights activist who said that obliging students to take up music courses in high schools or universities was a violation of their rights.

"Requiring students to study music and adding music courses to the curriculum with the subsequent impact on their grades is a violation of the parents' rights in choosing the adequate education for their children and in upholding their culture and beliefs," Adel Al Damkhi, the head of the Kuwaiti Society of the Constituents of Human Rights, said.

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