Multi-faith Schools

[Iftikhar]

Multi-faith Schools

There is an extraordinary proposal to unite Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu children in the country’s first multi-faith secondary school. The plans, backed by leading figures, are aimed at transforming the image of faith-based education which has been criticized in the wake of race riots. They hope that the 1000 pupils’ school planned for the London Borough of Westminster will be the first of a series of similar ventures around the country. Now Sir Cyril Taylor is of the opinion that schools dominated by Muslim pupils should be closed down and replaced with multi-faith academies. I think Sir Cyril Taylor proposal is short-sighted and xenophobic. It is falsely called a blueprint for community cohesion and raising standards. The multi-faith schools are actually community schools. Every community school is potentially a school of many faiths and no faith, and the new academies are exactly the same. Integration does not mean mixing of different races and creeds; in fact integration means to satisfy the needs and demands of the communities who differ from each other. A few Muslims, Jewish and Christian’s secularists are against such schools and put forward a naive idea of Multi-faith schools which is not going to be accepted by those who believe in choice and diversity in education.

Multifaith schools are not going to bring together children from different faiths. Such schools are going to mis-educate and de-educate Muslim pupils just like any other state school. State schools are already multi-cultural and multi-racial but relation between different communities has gone from bad to worse for the last 30 years. The recent riots are clear evidence of institutional racism which is rife in state schools. Even Polish pupils are victim of physical and verbal abuse. There is no sign of respect and understanding between the children of different communities. There will be hardly any difference between future Multi-faith schools and present state schools.

The silent majority of Muslim parents would like to see their children attending Muslim schools. Muslim schools provide Muslim children with the opportunity to attend institutions of academic excellence which could reinforce their commitment to their culture, religion and languages while at the same time opening constructive dialogue with the British society in which they live. There is a dire need for more state funded Muslim schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools under the management and control of Muslim educational Trust or Charities. In Bradford, two Church schools have 90% of Muslim pupils and the Church of England should consider designating those two schools as Muslim community schools.

State funded Muslim schools need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. Bilingualism is recognized by researchers as educational advantages. Schools need to take steps to support children’s bilingualism, which is an economic asset as well as an asset to migrant communities. The study of Comparative religions is not required in Muslim schools because Islam teaches respect, tolerance and understanding of those who are different. The teaching of Standard English will help Muslim children to follow National Curriculum. They will be able to achieve high grades to pursue higher studies and research to serve humanity. The teaching of community languages and Urdu will help them to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. They do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots. The teaching of Arabic will help them to practice Islam and recite and understand the Holy Quran. Only state funded Muslim schools can satisfy the needs and demands of the Muslim parents and pupils right from nursery level.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

[London Mick]

Dunno what this is doing on this forum but what the heck..........

No more "faith" schools!

There are thousands of good muslim schools in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. I suggest you send your kids there and go live near them.

The more kids mix together in "English" schools, (how quaint) and learn about the British way of life, our customs, our language and our history the better they will integrate and become just like us.

We do not want a divided society where kids from different backgrounds go to their own schools and learn to live apart, Mr Ahmad.

Multiculturism has been forced on the west by bankers and globalists to divide us all and eventually get rid of the nation state.

Of course Polish kids will be bullied at school. They are different and kids always pick on other kids who differ from them. I was bullied at school for being a Catholic. Big deal! There are loads of wonderful Polish schools in Poland.
If I took my kids to Bangladesh and put them in the local school I expect in the beginning they too would have a hard time but eventually they would blend in and become just like all the Bangledeshi kids and if they wanted to hang on to their Christian religion, which teaches love, respect and tolerance they could practise it in private and not demand special priviliges from the Bangladeshi host community.

If you don't wish to live like we do then don't come here.

[wepmob2000]

The idea of any 'faith school' in the 21st century is illogical at best, the last thing the government should do is fund these multi faith schools.

Last I heard the UK's state religion was the Anglican variety of Christianity, so why the state should fund any new or different faith schools is beyond me (and yes, RC schools also appear to be an anachronism).

The schools should be strictly secularised, and their defining aim should be to equip all pupils to engage in a meaningful way in modern British society, and that is all. Any religious education should be funded by their respective communities and take place outside of regular school hours. For example, some english children attend Sunday school while many Jewish children attend extracurricular religious education on a Saturday morning (none of which is state funded to any degree).

If non Anglicans want state funded religious education to suit their own needs and desires, they will find a variety of other countries that provide this.

Easy really?

[ian neal]

[TonyGosling]

Interesting piece
Apart from his final statement!
Islam, and Sharia Law, has more in common with Christianity than Hitchens realises.

Christianity... betrayed by the schools it built
Peter Hitchens

It was the churches, not the State, who began mass education in this country.
Thanks to their schools, they also spread the Christian story and its revolutionary moral message – helping to make Britain what it was until recently: a beacon of ordered liberty.
When the schools were nationalised after 1945, the State promised to carry on teaching the faith.
But that promise has now been almost completely broken, even in many officially Christian schools.
Ofsted – too busy classifying terrible schools as ‘good’ – has at last caught up with this scandal.
Christianity has been under attack here for decades, especially in the universities, so it is no surprise that it’s hard to find anyone willing or able to teach it.
But I wonder whether the anti-Christians will like the society that results from the death of the faith that shaped our civilisation. Sharia law, here we come.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1286128/PETER-HITCHENS-Speci al-relationship-Americas-itching-bash-snoot.html

[Busker]

It's quite simply.

Religion should have no role in the running or management of a school, or it's identity, if that school receives ANY public funding.

Faith, or lack thereof, is entirely a personal matter and should be completely separate from the state.

[item8]

[Iftikhar]

Muslim Schools are not only faith schools they are also bilingual schools. Bilingual Muslim children need to lea\rn and be well versed in standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They also need to leanr and be well versed in Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural rotts and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.

Globalisation means that we now all live, work or communicate with people
who are different. In this global village, religious faith plays a central
role in the way that people understand or from their culture and identity. A
Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to
become notoriously monolingual Brit.

Human being is a product of his culture, language and faith. There is a
positive co-relation between language and culture. If Muslims become
notoriously monolingual Brits than there is a likely hood that they will
adopt English culture. They will still be the underdogs of the British
society. In the past they were victim of Paki-bashing in all walks of life
by the British society becuase majority of them were not well versed in
local accents. Now Muslim youths born and educated by British education
sysytm are being victim of terrorism by British establishment. Thousands of
them are being searched by Police in streets and many of them are behind the
bar without any trial. A lot of Muslim youths are imprisoned by British
courts on the slightest excuses. The number of Muslim prisoners is on the
increase in British jails. When they come out of jail they will become real
criminals and terrorists while British foreign minister has said that
Muslims are law abiding and committed citizens.

I am concerned with the education of bilingual Muslim children. I set up the
first Muslim school in London in 1981 and now there are round about 140
Muslim schools and only 11 are state funded. I would like to see each and
every Muslim child to be in a Muslim school.

A study by Bristol University reveals that a high level of racial
segregation in Oldham schools and tension between communities resulted in
recent riots in 2001. The solution is that those schools where Muslim
children are majority, may be designated as Muslim community schools. The
native parents do not want their children to be educated along with migrant
chiildren. As soon as they find that the number of other children are on the
increase, they remove their children to those schools where native children
are in majority.

In the 70s, when I raised ithe issue of bilingualism and Muslim schools, I
was given the impression that British education system does not believe in
bilingualism. According to varities of studies, a child will suffer if
he/she finds himself cut off from his/her cultural and linguistic roots.
Arabic is our religious language and each and every Muslim must be well
versd in Quranic Arabic. This the main reason why I believe that Pakistani
parents must find marriage partners from Pakistan for their children.
Pakistani children and youths suffer more than others because they find
themselves cut off from the literature and poetry. Majority of them are not
even well versed in Standard English. This is the main rason why majority of
Pakistani children leave schools without goood qualification. English is
their economic language while Urdu is their social and emotional and Arabic
is their religious language.


There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority.
In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim Academies with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. There is no place for
a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.

Bilingual Muslim children have been in state schools for the last 50 years.
They have been suffering from Paki-bashing. They have been unable to develop
their confidence and self-esteem due to racism and bullying. This is one of
the main reason why they have been unable to achieve good grades. They have
been suffering from Identity Crises. They do not know where they belong.
Muslim school with bilingual Muslim teachers is only the answer.
Iftikhar Ahmad