State and federal Education Ministers will be asked to approve a suite of new measures to combat the radicalization of Australian school kids at this Friday’s Education Council meeting.

Ministers will be asked to sign off on the strategy as a matter of urgency, in a bid to curb the jihadist-brainwashing that resulted in a 15-year-old high school student shooting dead Sydney police accountant Curtis Cheng in October.

Ahead of the meeting, leading national security expert Peter Jennings has called for the teaching of Islam and contemporary Middle Eastern politics to be incorporated into the national curriculum, so misleading online hate-preachers cannot fill the information vacuum.

Mr. Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said if Australian school students “spent one less hour learning about Gallipoli and one extra hour having a sensible discussion about contemporary Middle Eastern politics, they might not be seeking that information out online.”

Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Education academic Kevin Donnelly, who co-chaired the government’s review of the national curriculum, agreed the “moral and spiritual values” of all religions should be taught across Australian schools.

“The focus should be on teaching young people what it means to be Australian,” he said.

“At the same time we should be teaching about the major religions, but teaching this in a way that is not sanitized.”

Education Ministers agreed in May to review the initiatives currently in place to support young people deemed to be at risk of radicalization to violent extremism.

News Corp Australia understands that review is now complete and the findings will be presented to Minister’s at this Friday’s meeting.

Teachings seen as valuable ... Australian schoolchildren could learn about Islam and Middle Eastern politics.

Mr. Jenning’s proposal to incorporate the teachings of moderate Islam into the school curriculum comes after Liberal frontbencher Josh Frydenberg declared a “problem within Islam” was to blame for the recent terrorist attacks and called for more moderate Muslim voices in the debate about terrorism.

A spokesman from the Education department said the government was taking the issue of radicalization in Australian schools “seriously”.

“The review identifies a number of national initiatives which will be considered by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) this month as part of a whole-of-government approach to countering violent extremism,” the spokesman said.

The initiatives are understood to build on a range of state and territory-based programs and strategies that are already being implemented in schools.

Mr. Jennings said he hoped the raft of new anti-radicalization measures would include better education in schools on Islam and the Middle East.

Source: news.com.au