Noorin is a second-year PhD. candidate in the Faculty of Education of the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include radicalization and de-radicalization in the educational systems of Muslim majority countries, citizenship education in the face of Islamism, and good governance in the educational systems as well as civil society empowerment for international peace and security. Her Ph.D. dissertation examines youth radicalization in the public schools of post-conflict Afghanistan. Since 9/11, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education (MoE) has prepared three five-year National Education Strategic Plans (NESPs) to contribute to the promotion of security and peace. Despite recent warnings about the expansion of radicalization in the society as a whole, the issue of radicalization has not been addressed in the NESPs. Her doctoral research will consequently address three interconnected questions: 1) What factors account for the presence or absence of radicalization in Afghanistan’s public schools? 2) Why has the MoE not addressed youth radicalization through NESPs? 3) What can we learn from the case of Afghanistan about youth radicalization in public schools in post-conflict Muslim countries? At this stage her research hypothesis is that – unlike the conventional view that public schools in Muslim-majority countries are secular, they are prone to and victim of radicalization in their respective societies.
