Muslim scholars to be featured in new curriculum


Turkey's Ministry of National Education (MEB) continues to reveal changes to the draft new curriculum which will be introduced in the new academic year. According to the plan, which affects elementary, middle school and high school students, the teachings of universally recognized Islamic scholars will be included in the public school curriculum along with scientists such as Newton, Einstein and Maxwell.

In ninth grade, students will be taught Khazini and Biruni's works on substance and learn about Avicenna as they study Newton's laws of motion. In 10th grade, students will be taught Ismail al-Jazari's work on hydrostatic balance and the compressive force of liquids and Farabi's studies on sound waves and the acoustics that were studied by Mimar Sinan, the historical head architect of the Ottoman empire, when creating his architectural masterpieces. Under the topic of lenses, students will be taught about the optic laws and how images occur in the human eye. As part of this lesson, teachers will educate children on the work of Ibn al-Haytham and Averroes, who studied and experimented with optical systems.

In 11th grade, students will learn about the designs and science behind the canons built on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror during the conquest of Constantinople. During the lessons in which the students are taught about boost and momentum, Avicenna's studies on momentum will also be discussed. Mechanical systems such as leverage and automatic machines will be taught through the works of al-Jazari and the Ibn Musa Brothers.

In the 12th grade, students will study the astronomers Ali Qushji and Ulugh Beg, who investigated the heavenly bodies and their motions, while learning about Kepler's laws. Finally, in the lessons on "Modern Physics," students will learn about Albert Einstein's relativity theory, as well as Kindi's theories concerning relativity.