Muslim schools training ground for students on terrorism

Several private Muslim schools in Mindanao are being used by terrorist groups to indoctrinate students on their ideologies, a senior government official said yesterday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that students in these schools are being trained on guerrilla warfare to fight against government forces. These learning institutions are known as "Madaris" schools.

The source said that underneath the Islamic studies given by the "Madaris" schools, they teach the students about terrorism and warfare.

"They are being taught of lessons aside from those that should be learned in school. Terrorism is being shot right into the students’ mind at an early age.

At present, there are some 1,000 Madaris schools in the Mindanao region. Most of them are found in Western and Central Mindanao and in the Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao. The official said the schools are believed funded by Muslim-fundamentalist groups, including Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

Bin Laden is the prime suspect of the United States government in the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington last Sept. 11.

The Saudi Arabian dissident has long been suspected to be supporting the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group which has been involved in kidnap-for-ransom activities.

The source added that an educator from a Muslim school in Mindanao had confirmed that Madaris schools are being used as fronts by terrorist groups to propagate their ideologies.

The source said the students are taught to "fight for Islam" and, in the process, they learn to take up arms. The students are later recruited into the terrorist groups.

The official also revealed that the government is coordinating with two foreign-funding institutions to prevent students from becoming terrorists by coming up with education programs for Muslim students.

"We hope to strengthen the basic education in Madaris schools so that Muslim children can have wider option, other than learning Islam," the source added.