The government plans to force the Muhammad crisis onto the school curriculum: Teachers' union says no

The Muhammad Crisis is to be part of the curriculum that teachers are preparing their teaching on, alongside the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Maastricht Treaty.

The government will make it a requirement to teach about the contentious crisis.

- We believe that all children in Denmark attending the Danish public school should be familiar with the Muhammad Crisis and the struggle for the satire tradition that it covers, says Frederik Vad, who is the immigration spokesperson for the Social Democrats.

This is after the Ministry of Education today has issued a press release expressing a desire to support teachers in teaching 'controversial subjects'.

These could be subjects such as the war between Israel and Hamas, gender identity, suicide and suicidal thoughts. And the Muhammad Crisis.

Especially the last subject is a focus for Frederik Vad and the government - and is also mentioned as an area of focus in the press release from the ministry (https://www.uvm.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/uvm/2025/oktober/251003-laerere-skal-have-opbakning-til-at-undervise-i-svaere-emner).

- The Muhammad Crisis was the largest foreign policy crisis since World War II. Around 50 people were killed worldwide due to the crisis. Danish embassies were on fire around the world. Danish businesses were boycotted for billions of dollars in the Middle East, and massive security measures were introduced around Danish newspapers, so it is indeed a huge story about recent Danish history, says Frederik Vad.

Read also: 20 years later, the Muhammad drawings are still controversial (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/seneste/20-aar-efter-er-muhammed-tegningerne-stadig-kontroversielle)

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Spokesperson: We are forced to deal with a culture of fear

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An investigation (https://www.vive.dk/da/nyheder-og-debat/2025/undervisning-i-kontroversielle-emner-vaekker-staerke-foelelser-men-skaber-ogsaa-motivation-og-engagement-i-undervisningen/) from VIVE showed in the summer that nearly half of teachers do not teach about the Muhammad Crisis and drawings on grounds of 'concern for their own or their family's safety'.

- The culture of fear surrounding the dissemination of this message, perhaps because one is afraid of being beheaded in some places in Denmark, we are simply forced to address politically, because otherwise we are betraying Danish values, and we are betraying Danish teachers, says Frederik Vad.

This is to be done by forcing the Muhammad Crisis onto the school curriculum in the public school by adding it to the history canon, which currently consists of 30 subjects such as women's suffrage and the Kanslergade Agreement, which must be taught.

This means that teachers will not be forced to show the Muhammad drawings themselves.

- We have not announced today that it is obligatory to show the drawings. What we have announced is that it is obligatory for all children to meet the Muhammad Crisis.

- But I think it is ridiculous not to show the drawings, and I think it would make sense if one wants to understand the Muhammad Crisis, says the spokesperson.

The 47-year-old French school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded in front of his school on an open street on October 16, 2020 by an 18-year-old perpetrator, after he had shown Muhammad drawings during a lesson on freedom of expression. (Photo: © Lewis Joly, AP/Ritzau Scanpix)

In the DR program P1 Orientation, he acknowledges that it is not without difficulty to teach the subject, and that teachers ultimately have responsibility for the teaching.

In 2020, the French school teacher Samuel Paty was for example beheaded on an open street in a suburb of Paris, (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/korrespondent-drab-paa-skolelaerer-har-rystet-franskmaendene-i-deres-grundvold) because he had shown Muhammad drawings in his teaching.

Therefore, the government believes that teachers need help to feel secure when teaching the subject.

- We need to find a civil society organization that can take on the task of supporting the teachers who we know, in some places in the country are afraid to even speak about the Muhammad Crisis, among other things out of fear for their personal safety, which is indeed scandalous in a enlightened society like the Danish, says he.

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Teachers' union to the government: No thanks

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If you ask the Danish Teachers' Union, the answer is quick.

- I will allow myself to go very principled and say no, said Regitze Flannov, chairman of the Education Committee in the teachers' union, Tuesday in P1 Morgen.

She thinks the government should stay out of the classroom.

- It is what with coming all the way into the classroom, where teachers know their students, what has been taught, what should be taught and get things to hang together, I think we should leave it to be, says she.

She herself thinks the subject is important to teach.

- We are in agreement that this is such an important period, so it will certainly be included in many teachers' teaching plans, if they choose the period. And we are also in agreement that it is completely unacceptable if anyone does not do it, because someone interferes in the teachers' office, says she.

It has been said for many years. It has not worked, because there are teachers who say 'we still dare not'...

- And school is not an island. School is a part of a diverse and chaotic society on the good and the bad.

... But what is the answer?

- School should continue to work. School is a foundation in a melting pot of our democracy, and there we have difficult conversations. There we have conversations all the time, and that is exactly why we have public schools.

Right now we are in a situation where there are some teachers who do not dare to teach. So what is the problem with saying that they should?

- It is simply to break with a tradition of not detail-managing centrally from all the way into the classrooms. And that is why I do not think it is a way to build the future for our public schools. I do not believe in it.

But is it sustainable for the public school that there are some teachers who do not dare to touch a subject that is so important?

- It is unacceptable, and we must also do something about it. And there are also other subjects that some parents think are completely unacceptable for us to teach. It can be something about sexuality and gender, it can be whatever, and we must not find ourselves in it. We must all work against it, says Regitze Flannov.

According to Frederik Vad, the government takes the input from the Danish Teachers' Union into account, but he is nervous about a culture of fear in the teachers' office.

- I think that the Danish Teachers' Union has been weak. And there is a culture of silence that is problematic. Therefore, we of course listen to the Danish Teachers' Union, but it is not the Danish Teachers' Union that will determine this, says he.

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