“We will not allow our schools to become centres for graduating dancers. (...) We call for halting this, otherwise, we will use constitutional tools. This could lead to grilling the prime minister,” the Kuwaiti member of parliament Mohammad Hayef told reporters according to Agence France-Presse, AFP.
Mohammad Hayef belongs to a group of ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists who consider, among other things, that music is prohibited under Islam.
Music has always been part of the curriculum in Kuwaiti schools despite opposition from hardline Islamists but the education ministry decided to include music as part of students' overall marks effective at the beginning of the school year in September.
“What is required now is for the ministry to revert to the old system, otherwise, we will submit a draft bill to ban music from schools,” Hayef was quoted as saying. He said the education ministry's decision was an attempt to Westernise Kuwaiti society.
AFP reported in this way about the general situation in Kuwait:
“Over the past few years, the Kuwaiti government has tightened the screws on musical concerts under pressure from Islamist and conservative MPs who have been the dominant force in parliament. Under the regulations, men and women must be segregated at concert venues, where the audience is strictly banned from dancing.
A few months ago, a concert by Egyptian pop singer Tamer Hosni was stopped by information ministry supervisors after a teenage girl went up to the stage and kissed him on the cheek.”
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