President Emomali Rakhmon signed the bill Tuesday despite vocal resistance from rights activists and the opposition Islamic Revival Party. The upper house of Parliament had already adopted the bill last month.

The law requires people under the age of 18 to study in secular schools, thus barring thousands of students from attending religious schools seen by authorities as a breeding ground of extremism.

The new law does not contain specific sanctions for parents that fail to ensure that their children abide by the rules, but authorities insist that legislation like this will help prevent the spread of religious fundamentalism.

Rakhmon’s government has already taken steps to curb what it calls the Islamization of Tajikistan — it has closed down numerous private mosques, forcibly repatriated Tajik nationals studying at Muslim universities abroad and has compelled preachers to adhere to government-issued guidelines. A lawmaker with the opposition Communist Party hailed the new law saying that the prevalence of Islamic schooling is putting unacceptable pressure on the younger generation.

“Even little schoolchildren here are running off to the mosque after they finish their studies, and the government must react against this without fail,” Shodi Shabdolov said. An opposition leader said, however, that the parental responsibility law contradicts the constitution.

“This law limits people's rights,” said Rakhmatullo Zoirov of the Social Democratic Party. “Visiting religious institutions is part of person’s social life and cannot be regulated by legal norms.” The authorities said the change would help stem the spread of religious fundamentalism in the overwhelmingly Muslim but secular nation.

But the bill’s passage was strongly condemned by religious groups.

“The ban to attend mosques will give rise to the negative reaction among the people,” prominent Muslim theologian and former deputy Prime Minister Akbar Turadzhonzoda said in an open letter to the president.

Other religious leaders noted that Rakhmon signed the law in the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan — a period of fasting and prayer for Muslims.

The president also approved separate changes to the criminal code that make “active participation” in an unauthorized rally into an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

Those found guilty of providing “illegal religious education” to young people can now be put behind bars for up to 12 years.

The impoverished ex-Soviet state shares a 1,340-km border with Afghanistan and has previously accused religious groups of stoking unrest in a bid to impose Shariah rule.

It was ravaged in the 1990s by a civil war between government forces and a loose alliance of Islamists and democrats.