Today,  Minister of Religious Affairs and Civil Society of Kazakhstan Darkhan Kaletayev paid a working visit to the Aktobe region.

As part of the trip, the Minister visited the villages of Kenkiyak and Shubarshi, located 220 km from the regional center, where he met with the local population. Darkhan Kaletayev explained the main priorities of state policy in the religious sphere and exchanged views with residents.

During the meeting, the Minister spoke about the reasons for introducing a provision in the draft law on religious activities prohibiting the wearing of clothing that hides the face.

«Covering the face is alien to the Kazakh people. This has not happened in our history and culture. There is broad public support for this issue in society», - said D. Kaletayev

Expressing his attitude to the wearing of headscarves at school, the Minister stated the need to comply with school rules.

According to Darkhan Kaletayev, along with these rules, there are alternative options. One of them is learning at home through remote technologies. He said that this issue is being worked out with the Ministry of education and science, and work in this direction will continue.

During the working trip to the region, the Minister met with the district's activists, theologians-imams, and members of the district commission for the prevention of terrorism in the Temir district center.

Then, in the village of Bestamak, he met with imams of the Religious Administration of Kazakhstan’s Muslims.

In his speech, the Minister noted that the introduction of changes to the Law «On religious activities and religious associations» is dictated by the time itself.

«We cannot hide the fact that some groups are spreading false information that this bill «contradicts the interests of religion. This information is completely groundless”, - said D. Kaletayev.

In this regard, the Minister called on imams to provide full support to the above-mentioned draft law and to engage in explaining its priorities among the population.

Darkhan Kaletayev focused on six areas of joint work with imams in the religious sphere.

It: countering activities of destructive religious movements; the training of imams and theologians, working with destructive religious currents; ensuring broad participation in outreach for the prevention of the spread of ideas of religious extremism and radicalism; the formation of zero tolerance to radical ideas among young people; conducting sermons by imams of mosques according to the principles set out in «Unified sermons»; improvement of «Rules of procedure of the mosques».

Darkhan Kaletayev suggested that the branch of the RAKM in Aktobe region create a reserve of imams and theologians in order to improve the skills of imams and theologians working with destructive religious movements. Imams and theologians included in the reserve will be sent to «Nur-Mubarak» University for further training.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/din/press/news/details/11400?lang=kk