Lack of prayer rooms in educational institutions

The HBO in The Hague is a scene for a conflict between Muslims and the Executive Board about a lack of prayer rooms. The Muslim members of the school community have to pray on the staircases, because the administration believes that offering a prayer space goes beyond the duties of a public institution. The Chairman of the Executive Board announced earlier this week that he will have an open dialogue with students.

In early March a similar discussion took place at the University of Amsterdam. The Executive Board also finds that providing prayer rooms is not a responsibility of a public institution and fears that students with the same beliefs will also feel compelled to pray.

NOS reported that in Leiden, Rotterdam, Maastricht and the VU University Amsterdam facilities provide access to facilities for Muslim community. Many other institutions have silence rooms and rooms for reflection, not focused particularly on prayer, but in practice it is often used for religious purposes.

For example, the Tilburg University has the Zwijsen building, a “center for reflection, meditation and prayer (…) a space to reflect on the important things in life, pray, get inspiration or just sit down quietly. NOS  argues that especially in the agglomeration of cities in Western Holland, there is a great demand for prayer rooms for Muslim community.”