& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Muslims in the Netherlands: Some facts and figures
HERB are currently around 850,000 Muslims In the Netherlands, which Is 5 0% of the total population. M*r p,ancc. this Is
th# highest percentage In Western Europe There ere many strands of Islam within the Dutch Muslim community. As well ns Sunnis, there are Shiites, Alevls and Ahmadis, not to mention a number of Sufi orders. The largest number of Muslims by fat hails originally from Turkey (323,000) followed by Morocco (204,000). Significant other numbers come from Afghanistan, Iraq and Surinam.
The Dutch political system Is based on the separation of church and state. Churches, mosques and other religious organisations operate Independently and without government Intervention. Everyone has the right to freedom of religion, association and expression.
Freedom of religion means the right of every Muslim in the Netherlands to profess his or her own beliefs, to bulk! mosques and to establish religious organise tlons. There are currently some 450 mosques In the Netherlands.
All Muslims have the same civil, social and political rights ns other Dutch residents. The Dutch Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.
The Dutch Constitution guru untees the right of Christians and Muslim schools to be fully financed from public funds, Islamic schools hove the right to devote attention to the Turkish or Moroccan language and culture, or to religious education. The government doea uphold the standards of all educational Institutions, including the quality of the curriculum and the qualifications of the teachers. At present there arc some 40 Islamic primary schools (with over 7500 students) and 2 secondary schools.
Muslims play an active part in Dutch politics: 3% of the local council seats are occupied by people with a non-western back- ground. The Muslim Democrat Party, for example, has a seat on The Hague's municipal council. In Parliament, 12 out of 150 members have a non-western background. And two members of the current Dutch government (one male and one female both deputy ministers) were born In Muslim countries.
Non-western and Muslim
women are less well-educated than native Dutch women or men with the same background. While the aecond generation haa made great Improvements In education performance, a large percentage doea not hold proper qualifications to attain a viable position on the labour market. Still, 88% of non-western women hold at least a part-time job (against 56% of the
native Dutch women).
Interestingly, when nonwestern women get a degree in secondary education, they are more likely than native Dutch women to continue their education at the college or university level. Moreover, they tend to favour studies (hat are In demand on the labour market rather than gender-specific studies.