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Austria’s Islamic kindergartens help create ‘parallel societies’: study

A debate is raging in Austria after a study suggested that Islamic kindergartens in Vienna were helping to create "parallel societies" or even produce the dangerous homegrown radicals of the future.

Austria's Islamic kindergartens help create 'parallel societies': study
A Muslim family walks towards a mosque in Vienna. Photo: Joe Klamar/AFP

According to its author, Ednan Aslan, a Turkish-born Austrian professor at Vienna University, some 10,000 children aged two to six attend around 150 Muslim preschools, teaching the Koran much like Christian ones do with Bible studies.

At least a quarter are backed by groups propagating arch conservative strains of Islam like Salafism, or organizations that see religion not just as a private matter but integral to politics and society, Aslan believes.

“Parents are sending their kids to establishments that ensure they are in a Muslim setting and learn a few suras (chapters from the Koran),” Aslan, a respected researcher into Islamic education, told AFP.

“But they are unaware that they are shutting them off from a multicultural society,” he said.

The study, published last year, has been jumped on by critics of immigration – not least the far-right Freedom Party – in the wake of attacks such as Paris and Brussels perpetrated by Muslims who grew up in Europe.

Undercover

But many reject Aslan's findings, questioning its methodology.

The magazine Biber, which writes for and about minorities, sent a veiled Muslim reporter undercover posing as a mother looking for a place for her son at 14 Muslim kindergartens.

She found no evidence to back up Aslan's suggestions that they were churning out “little Salafists” or that things like the children singing – frowned upon by ultra-strict Muslims – were banned.

But around a third were according to the magazine “problematic”, “cutting off or isolating children” from mainstream society. It also voiced concerns about the “openness” of some staff and the level of German spoken.

Vienna City Hall has since sought to calm the situation by commissioning an in-depth study involving a six-strong research team which will be published later this year.

But the first problem is establishing how many Islamic kindergartens there are. Vienna has 842 registered kindergartens, 100 of them Catholic-run and 13 Protestant, but the number of Muslim ones is not known.

Part of the reason is that there has been an explosion in the number that are privately run, stretching the ability of the authorities to keep tabs and allowing some to operate under the radar.

City of immigrants

Vienna is home to 1.8 million people, half of whom have a parent born abroad or who were born abroad themselves. Ever since it was the capital of a vast empire, it has been a magnet for outsiders, not all of them always welcome.

“But what is new in recent years has been the religious aspect of the debate about integration,” said Thomas Schmidinger, political scientist and Islam specialist at Vienna University.

Austria, a nation of 8.7 million people, has received more than 130,000 asylum applications since 2015 following the onset of the European Union's biggest migration crisis since World War II.

The Freedom Party is riding high in the polls. Surveys suggest that public attitudes to Muslims have hardened. Attacks on migrant shelters soared last year.

The ruling centrist coalition has moved to the right with plans to ban full-face veils in public and oblige migrants to sign an “integration contract”.

Organizations representing Austria's 700,000-strong Muslim population say that in this context, Aslan's flawed report has only fanned the flames.

“This study feeds populism and forces Muslims to justify themselves constantly,” said Murat Gurol from newly created pressure group the Muslim Civil Society Network.

The 45-year-old IT worker said he sent his own son to a Muslim kindergarten in order to learn “the values of solidarity, humanity and responsibility”.

As a child he went to a Christian preschool, and “I don't see why that should be allowed for one religion and not for another”, he told AFP.

By Sophie Makris

For members

WORKING IN AUSTRIA

Working in Austria: What are my rights as a pregnant person?

If you work in Austria, you have several rights, particularly if you are expecting a baby. Here's what you need to know.

Working in Austria: What are my rights as a pregnant person?

Austria has many laws and regulations to protect women and their pregnancies – as long as you follow specific criteria, for example, being employed and contributing to the social security system.

If you just found out you are pregnant, here are all your rights (and responsibilities) as a paid worker in Austria. 

What are your duties?

You are obligated to notify your employer as soon as you become aware of your pregnancy – though many people wait until they receive their Eltern Kind Pass, the official document from the doctor, which they receive after around eight weeks of pregnancy. Some people will even wait until the first trimester of pregnancy has passed to notify their employers.

But once you’ve notified them – even showing a doctor’s certificate of pregnancy if your employer requests it, then the protective provisions of the Maternity Protection Act apply. 

READ ALSO: Four things you should know if you’re going to give birth in Austria

What if I am in the probationary period?

Austria’s labour laws allow for a probationary period during which the employment relationship can be quickly terminated. However, being pregnant is not a valid reason for such termination. So, if your employer has dismissed you (even if during the trial period) because you are pregnant, that is unlawful discrimination on the grounds of gender and a violation of the Equal Treatment Act, according to the Chamber of Labour.

Additionally, you are not obliged to inform the employer of your pregnancy during the trial period. 

What are your rights?

Perhaps the most essential right is the absolute protection against dismissal: if you are pregnant and have a permanent employment contract, you may not be dismissed.

Protection against dismissal lasts until four months after giving birth. If you take maternity leave, you cannot be dismissed until four weeks after the end of your maternity leave.

As a pregnant person, you also have other rights before you go on maternity leave. For example, you can be released from work before the protection period if there is a risk to you or your child’s life or health connected to your work. You must submit a medical certificate for this, though. 

READ ALSO: Austria approves changes to the mandatory ‘family passport’ Mutter-Kind-Pass

You can also request changes for your comfort and health, such as a chair if you work standing up or even a suitable bed or couch if you need to lie down and rest during work hours or a smoke-free area for your breaks (there are even more regulations regarding specific work bans you can check below).

Your working hours also become more flexible once you’re pregnant, as you are entitled to visit your doctor for examinations, especially the mandatory ones, during working hours if it is not possible or reasonable for you to have them at other times. Your employer is obliged to continue to pay you your wages or salary as usual during this time.

Work bans

The Chamber of Labour states: “Heavy lifting, stress and dangerous work are all harmful to a pregnant woman and her unborn child, which is why such activities are prohibited for pregnant women.” 

There are specific rules regarding work that is considered hazardous to health. For example, a pregnant employee may not carry out any job that requires her to regularly lift loads of more than 5 kg or occasionally lift loads of more than 10 kg without mechanical aids.

From the beginning of the 21st week of pregnancy, the employee may only perform standing work for 4 hours daily. For the remaining time, the employer must assign an occupation that can be performed sitting down. From that same week, pregnant women are absolutely prohibited from working under time and performance pressure.

Additionally, they must not work with substances, radiation, dust or vapours that are hazardous to help or carry out work under the influence of heat, cold, or moisture – or with a particular risk of accidents.

As a pregnant or nursing mother, you are not allowed to work at night, apart from a few permitted exceptions, such as in the transport sector, for music or theatre performers or for nursing staff, when expectant (and breastfeeding!) mothers may only work until 10 pm at the latest.

READ ALSO: The Austrian rules that make it hard for single women to have a baby

Following night work (from 8 pm to 6 am), they must have an uninterrupted rest period of at least 11 hours. 

It is important to note that an employee must not suffer any financial disadvantage due to the prohibition of specific work. 

Pregnant or breastfeeding mothers may not work overtime. Under no circumstances may the daily working time exceed 9 hours or the weekly working time exceed 40 hours.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What you need to know about parental leave in Austria

Maternity leave or Mutterschutz

Austria has very strict rules for maternity leave, a period known as Mutterschutz, or “mother protection”. You are not allowed to work in the last eight weeks before your due date, and this maternity protection lasts for eight weeks after the child is born. 

If the protection period before childbirth is shortened because the child is born earlier, the protection period after birth is extended by the extent of the shortening to a maximum of 16 weeks.

In the case of premature births, multiple births or caesarean sections, the protection period after delivery is at least 12 weeks.

READ ALSO: Does having a baby in Austria make it easier for parents to become Austrian?

You will receive a maternity leave allowance from your health insurance fund. Your employer does not pay any wages or salary during this period, but you must inform your employer four weeks before you take maternity leave.

These protections apply regardless of the person’s citizenship, the duration of the employment relationship or the extent of the employment (for example, regarding working hours).

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