Analysis of "The History of Religious Culture" - A Kyrgyz Government Initiative to Prevent Radicalisation and Violent Extremism among Adolescents

Radicalisation has become an important issue for the Kyrgyz Republic with an increasing number of individuals leaving the country for conflict zones. The government of the Kyrgyz Republic adopted a number of policies to prevent radicalisation and violent extremism among youth. One of these measures is piloting a new subject, titled, History of Religious Culture, (История религиозной культуры) in public schools. The analysis in this paper aims to explore the experiences of teachers, who have taught the new class. The article also examines any differences in the level of resilience of pupils in schools, piloting and not piloting the new subject, towards radicalisation and violent extremism. Data used in this article comes from a survey with 760 adolescents across public schools in six regions of the country and key informant interviews with teachers who have taught the new class. Qualitative findings showed a positive experience of teachers who reported expanding their pupils' and their own knowledge of various religions. Quantitative findings indicate that the new class, History of Religious Culture, may have had a positive impact on violence-related beliefs in pilot schools that reported views less supportive of violence. The study concludes that the government's response to radicalisation and violent extremism has expanded beyond a security approach by including education. This, however, poses a risk of securitising education.