Dearborn, USA -- Enrollment is increasing at Islamic schools in Michigan, which has among the largest Muslim populations in the country.
The Muslim American Youth Academy in Dearborn has 211 students and a waiting list of 20, compared to just 40 students when the school opened in 1997. The academy, which ends at eighth-grade, now plans to build a high school.
In Canton Township, west of Detroit, the Crescent Academy plans to admit 350 students in a new building next year, up by about 100 since 2000. In Swartz Creek, near Flint, the Genesee Academy, which started with 40 students in 1995, now has 155 students.
In the past three years, the number of Islamic schools nationally has grown from 194 to about 220, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Nearly all the students at the Muslim American Youth Academy are American-born, said Principal Nouredine Saab, who was one of the first Arabic language teachers in the Dearborn Public Schools before he helped to establish the school.
Parents say they are attracted by the discipline, the values-based instruction and the stress on academic achievement that includes individual attention and smaller class sizes.
"I care about education, and I care about discipline," said real estate agent Sam Baydoun, who enrolled his 9-year-old daughter, Angela, in the academy. "I feel that if children are exposed to religion - and in my case, I am Muslim - they will stay away from all of the bad habits. Kids are kids, you know? So I am always on the lookout."