by the commentator on 8 April 2014 13:23

Amid cross-party opposition, Norway's education ministry has approved an application for the capital city Oslo to get its first Muslim-only school, the country's English language online media outlet, The Local reported on Tuesday.

The school, which reports said would have 200 students when it is fully operational, is to be founded at the behest of the Association of Muslim Mothers.

According to the report in The Local: "...the school would teach its pupils Arabic and Islamic values as well as the standard subjects on the curriculum, replacing the subject of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics with Islam, Religion and Philosophy."

Islam and multiculturalism are highly sensitive subjects in Norway in the wake of the massacre perpetrated by far-Right extremist Anders Breivik in July 2011. Breivik killed eight people in a bomb attack in Oslo and a further 69 at a socialist youth camp on Utoya island. Breivik cited as one of his primary motivations the alleged "Islamisisation" of Europe.

Nonetheless, even members of the opposition Labour Party have voiced concerns that the move to open such a Muslim-only school could be divisive.

"We spend a lot of money on inclusion in Norway, and now we are apparently going to be spending it on segregation." the Labour chairman of Norway's parliamentary education committee, Trond Giske, was quoted in the above mentioned report as saying.

The growing Muslim population of Norway is estimated at 4-5 percent, with that figure rising to between 8 and 10 percent in Oslo.