Kaunas Weekend School “Minaretas” in 2023/2024. Celebrating a Year of Growth

Kaunas, Lithuania: 16 June 2024

On a warm and sunny afternoon on June 16th, coinciding with the major Muslim holiday Kurban Bairam (the Feast of Sacrifice), the Kaunas Weekend School “Minaretas” held its farewell celebration for the 2023/2024 school year.

During the 2023/2024 school year, 23 children attended “Minaretas”, including 11 girls from Kaunas city and the Kaunas district. Classes took place every Sunday from September through the end of May. The participants learned Quran recitation, memorization of surahs and Arabic language.

The school currently has six dedicated volunteer teachers, three women. Women’s active involvement in the school community fosters closer ties among members and enhances the children’s learning outcomes.

Despite being from mixed families and not necessarily speaking Lithuanian as their native language, the children integrated well and learned the basics of their faith in Lithuanian. Their curiosity and eagerness to improve led to excellent results by the end of the year.

Each year, NGO Education and Heritage assists the Kaunas Muslim community in enhancing educational quality at “Minaretas”. This year, through an EU project and collaboration with the Minority Rights Group (MRG), new activities were introduced, including a new foreign language introductory course.

The curriculum included the Chechen language, which is rare in this community. Because of its uniqueness, the teachings of this language were introduced to the members of the community. It should be noted that learning a new language allows a deeper understanding of other cultures, which helps to understand and respect other national minorities and their history. It is also important for the multicultural community itself, where Lithuanian, Turkish, Arabic, Russian and Tatar languages prevail. Learning a foreign language creates respect for different national groups in the community.

Another foreign language, which has been organized in this school for several years, is Arabic. This time the course was aimed at encouraging women to actively contribute to community activities. During the lessons, several women shared their knowledge of Jordanian, Syrian and Egyptian dialects. After these trainings, women from the community expressed their desire to volunteer in community activities and at the school.

Learning a new language at this school broadened the participants’ cultural horizons, improved their communication skills and helped them better understand their ethnic and linguistic heritage. Such education promotes integration into a multicultural society and develops tolerance for others. From an early age, children learn to contribute to the promotion of intercultural dialogue and understanding in Lithuania.

Another training focused on reciting the Quran in Arabic. The Quran – the holy book of Muslims – has an inestimable value not only from a religious point of view but also from a cultural point of view. It is the source of wisdom, knowledge, love, respect and understanding in the Muslim community. Learning the Qur’an in Arabic opens the door to the spiritual world, which encourages the pursuit of knowledge and self-knowledge. Therefore, these trainings attracted more participants, both children and adults since the recitation of the Qur’an is important for Muslims of various nationalities. Boys and girls strengthened their bonds with each other through this shared practice.

The increased number of participants created organizational challenges, making it necessary to find additional space to accommodate everyone. We successfully partnered with the Kaunas Cultural Centre of Various Nations, allowing us to rent their hall for the activity. During the training, children recited surahs from the Quran, guessed the surah from which a verse was read and listened to recordings of a professional reciter with Lithuanian translations.

We are delighted that a new Lithuanian history lesson has been included in the school curriculum. These lessons taught children and their parents about the history of Islam in Lithuania and the local Muslim communities that uphold their faith and traditions. These trainings enhanced everyone’s understanding of their community’s heritage, history and diversity and helped strengthen relationships. The school expressed a desire to continue showing these video lessons, introducing children to Lithuania’s sacred and cultural heritage.

A total of 34 individuals participated in the training sessions: 16 men, 18 women and  25 children (13 boys and 12 girls). Immediately following the summer vacation, classes will resume with scheduled Arabic language training and seminars on minority rights in the European Union and Lithuania.

The school year concluded with the community’s customary celebration: children received diplomas and gifts, followed by a communal feast.

Briefly about the Kaunas weekend school “Minaretas”

God, gifting man with hearing, sight and reason, created him with great love so that he could explore the world, seek knowledge and constantly improve. Islam, a religion that encourages learning and the pursuit of knowledge, leads a person to a deeper path of self-knowledge and faith. In today’s world, especially in a multicultural society, Muslims face challenges trying to maintain their faith.

Therefore, the Lithuanian Muslim religious community has a special mission – to convey the true essence of Islam to the younger generation. In this school, we aim to provide children not only with a religious education, but also to help them understand the world and learn to respect others without losing their identity as Muslims. The faith must be transmitted with love and understanding and without hatred or hostility towards others, our children must be strong in their faith, but open and benevolent to others.

The mission of the weekend school “Minaretas”is to become a community center and a bridge connecting with other Lithuanian and foreign institutions and organizations. The school strives to take care of safe religious education and ensure quality training for children and adults, paying special attention to women.

Weekend school “Minaretas” not only provides professional training, but also strengthens relationships between community members. Early religious education and foreign language skills are encouraged here, which help to form a conscious identity of the young generation and improve the emotional well-being of community members.

Since 2016, educational services and language training at the Kaunas weekend school “Minaretas” have been provided by the public institution “Education and Heritage”. Registration takes place every year until the end of September.