Today, on May 27 of this year, the Chairman of the Board of N. Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Inter-civilization Dialogue Bulat Sarsenbayev participated in the international scientific-practical conference «Importance of religious education in the consolidation of national spiritual integrity», dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and 20 anniversary of the Egyptian University of Islamic Culture «Nur-Mubarak».
The purpose of the conference is to assess the main problems of religious education in the development of national spiritual integrity during the years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the achievements and role of the «Nur-Mubarak» University in its implementation.
The grand opening of the conference was also attended by Rector of the Nur-Mubarak University Mohammad ash-Shahhat al-Gindi, Chairman of Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan, Supreme Mufti Nauryzbay kazhy Taganuly, Vice Minister of Information and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan S. Yegizbayev, Vice-minister of Arab Republic of Egypt Waqf Ministry Gaber Taie Soultan, Deputy Sheikh of al-Azhar Mohamed Abdelrahman Eldweny, Chief Mufti of Arab Republic of Egypt Shawki Ibrahim Allam, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Kazakhstan Manal El Shannawi, Rector of the Islamic University of Indonesia Fathul Wahid and others.
Speaking with a welcoming speech, the Chairman of the Board of N. Nazarbayev Center Bulat Sarsenbayev noted that in the conditions of secularization and multicultural societies, there are constant discussions about the role of high-quality religious education and the new requirements of the modern world in this area.
In this regard, B. Sarsenbayev indicated that in order to analyze the key aspects and topical issues of religious and religious education in Kazakhstan, in 2020 N. Nazarbayev Center conducted a sociological study on the topic «Analysis of the current situation and prospects for the development of religious and religious education in Kazakhstan», a feature of which is the analysis at all academic levels (school - college - university).
The Head of the Center shared the results of the research in more detail during his presentation on «Religious studies and religious education in Kazakhstan: current state, problems and tendencies» in the third section of the conference, dedicated to the methodology of modern religious education programs and researches. Thus, the conference participants learned that the focus of the research was on secondary schools in terms of teaching the discipline «Secularity and the Foundations of Religious Studies», madrasah colleges, theological seminaries and universities that provide religious and religious education.
«There is no single approach to religious education today. An undoubted constant is the fact that religious education in most countries is viewed as an important part of educating students as responsible citizens of modern pluralistic societies», - the speaker emphasized.
Summarizing the speech, the Chairman of the Board of N. Nazarbayev Center B.Sarsenbayev expressed gratitude for the organization of a constructive exchange of views on topical topics in the field of religion, and also proposed to transfer the online conference into the format of a permanent dialogue platform.
It should be noted that during the discussions, leading specialists of scientific communities, scientists and public figures of Kazakhstan, Egypt, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Kuwait and Russia considered the main trends in the global and religious situation in the country, modern problems of Islamic and religious education, as well as issues of correlation national and Islamic identity.
