About anatomical education problems related to the student’s faith-confession

Teaching morphological disciplines such as anatomy is an important part of medical education, providing students with knowledge of the structure and functioning of living organisms. However, in universities of countries and regions with a predominantly Islamic population or in universities with a significant number of foreign students from Muslim countries, teaching these disciplines faces a number of difficulties due to the requirements and canons of the Islamic faith. The purpose of this work is to analyze the features of teaching morphological disciplines to students of medical universities who profess Islam. The materials for the study were the relevant few sources of literature with the corresponding keywords and content, the teaching experience of the authors and the data of a small pilot survey of students of one of such universities. The obtained materials were analyzed for the purpose of the study. The analysis of the main ethical principles that students of Islamic faith who study at anatomy departments adhere to and which affect their educational process shows certain difficulties that teachers face. A special place among them is occupied by the issues of studying the human body from the point of view of Islamic ethics, restrictions related to the sex of students, the use of anatomical preparations, images and models of the naked body in the learning process. At the same time, a pilot study in the form of a questionnaire on the issues raised in this publication demonstrated that the existing problems and difficulties of anatomical education of students professing Islam are quite surmountable, but require the creation of certain conditions in the organization of the educational process, the widespread use of non-conventional types and forms of educational work in morphological departments and the creation of a tolerant environment. A detailed consideration of the above problems and proposals for the development of methods for optimizing the teaching of morphological disciplines will allow educational institutions in certain territories to optimize the learning process, making it acceptable for students with different religious views.