Forum Topic

State Funded Muslim Schools

The demand for Muslim schools comes from parents who want their children a safe environment with an Islamic ethos.Parents see Muslim schools where children can develop their Islamic Identity where they won't feel stigmatised for being Muslims and they can feel confident about their faith.Muslim schools are working to try to create a bridge between communities. There is a belief among ethnic minority parens that the British schooling does not adequatly address their cultural needs. Failing to meet this need could result in feeling resentment among a group who already feel excluded. Setting up Muslim school is a defensive response. State schools with monolingual teachers are not capable to teach English to bilingual Muslim children. Bilingual teachers are needed to teach English to such children along with their mother tongue. According to a number of  studies, a child will not learn a second language if his first language is ignored. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. Muslims have the right to educate their children in an environment that suits their culture. This notion of "integration", actually means "assimilation", by which people generally really mean "be more like me". That is not multiculturalism. In Sydney, Muslims were refused to build a Muslim school, because of a protest by the residents. Yet a year later, permission was given for the building of a Catholic school and no protests from the residents. This clrearly shows the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and racism. Christians oppose Muslim schools in western countries yet build their own religious schools. British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. The result is that Muslim children are unable to developself-confidence and self-esteem, therefore, majority of them leave schools with low grades. Racism is deeply rooted in British society. Every native child is born with a gene or virus of racism, therefore, no law could change the attitudes of racism towards those who are different. It is not only the common man, even member of the royal family is involved in racism. The father of a Pakistani office cadet who was called a "Paki" by Prince Harryhas profoundly condemned his actions. He had felt proud when he met the Queen and the Prince of Wales at his son's passing out parade at Sandhurst in 2006 but now felt upset after learning about the Prince's comments. Queen Victoria invited an Imam from India to teach her Urdu language. He was highly respected by the Queen but other members of the royal family had no respect for him. He was forced to go back to India. His protrait is still in one of the royal places. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools with bilingual Muslim teachers. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.Iftikhar Ahmadwww.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Iftikhar Ahmad ● 5874d14 Comments

Of course there is already state-funded Muslim education in this country - just not this state. The "Saudi school" as it is known in Acton is largely funded by the Saudi Arabian state. There may be others for all I know.Is that a good thing?

Sara Nathan ● 5862d

'That sort of educational apartheid was a disaster in Northern Ireland.'As someone who has no affiliation to any particular religious group and who grew up in Northern Ireland it does annoy me very much to see comments like this.It is a convenient fiction for the English to claim that conflict in the north was a result of pre-existing sectarian tensions that they have merely sought to manage and contain. In other words the British Empire brought a bit of order to superstious Paddys who otherwise would have been at each other's throats due to disagreements about transubstantiation.What actually happened is that to maintain control of the area English power was exercised by proxy through one religious group and another was totally excluded from the political process and denied the most basic rights and freedoms. This inevitably created resentment and led to conflict and the education of children in the area had nothing to do with it.There are substantial Protestant minorities in the Ulster counties in the Republic who generally attend their own schools yet there is no sectarian conflict in these areas.

James Connell ● 5864d

Thanks for the advice. It seems a pretty pointless activity! His posts I mean, not the forum. I shall abandon any notion of a real debate then, and get back to moaning about Westfield!!

Vivienne James ● 5864d

He virtually never responds to specific posts, Vivienne...just sets his filter to be alerted when there is something on one of "his" threads so the next ritualistic effusion can be spewed.There's not much point in arguing but I suppose it gets the number of posts on this forum up and no-one reads them here anyhow so it probably does no harm.

Sara Nathan ● 5864d

Are you involved in education professionally? The schools that I have been involved in worked tirelessly for ALL children be they Afghan, Bosnian, Kurd, Pakistani, Indian, Somali, Nigerian, Polish, Serbian, and so the list goes on, in terms of English as an additional language. Should they all have their own schools? and there are many teachers who are bilingual. So what? Ofsted can prove that any selective school can achieve better results. Again, so what? Might it not be to do with a work ethic rather than anything alse, which is not exclusively found in Islamic society. You speak in total generalisations. Why not designate those schools in which the middle classes are in a majority as Middle Class Schools? There are many children who are bilingual and do not need to have their own corner of the education world funded.

Vivienne James ● 5864d

Muslim schools continue to improve in their GCSE results. For the third consecutive year Muslim schools advanced on their previous results and surpassed the national average. The reason is that there is a positive co-relation between a Muslim school and a Muslim home. Muslim children develop self-confidence and self-esteem and they do not suffer from Idenbtity Crises.Muslim schools provide an outstanding standard of education for a couple of thousands young children across the country.Ex-pupils of Muslim schools have developed into examplary citizens and participate in all aspects of civic society. Independent analysis and thorough OFSTED inspections have demonstrated that academic achievement, behaviour, social and emotional development in Muslim schools is consistently and subtantially better than local and national averages. Higher standard meant that an increasing number of Muslim parents choose to enrol their children in a Muslim school. There is a dire need for more state funded Muslim schools and the only solution is that those state and Church schools where Muslim children are in majority, may be designated as Muslim community schools.Muslim parents would like their children to learn and be well versed in standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. But majority of Muslim children leave schools with low grades because monolingual teachers are not capable of teaching English to bilingual children. At the same time Muslim children need to be well versed in Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. They leave schools without learning such languages. If you ignore or neglect the mother tongue of a child , he is not going to learn a second language. Bilingualism is an asset but the British schooling percieves it as a problem. Therefore, it is crucial that Muslim children must have their own state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, otherwise, they will keep on suffering academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. In all western countries, each and every Muslim child must be in a state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers.A 13 years old Pakistani girl has written a 760 pages novel in English and was honoured by the President of Pakistan. She is well versed in Urdu and English because she has bilingual teachers who are well versed in Urdu as well as in English. Iftikhar Ahmadwww.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Iftikhar Ahmad ● 5864d

"the British Establishment are ready to fund all Muslim schools."I'm not sure what you mean by the "Establishment"; do you mean the UK government?  Do you mean "all-Muslim schools" (note the hyphen), i.e. schools where there are only Muslim pupils?  I'm not aware of any such policy.  What evidence do you have for it?"there are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children  are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools."And presumably you would then want non-Muslim pupils excluded from them.  That sort of educational apartheid was a disaster in Northern Ireland.  Why do you want to introduce it in England?  Have you considered the negative impact on the pupils you would exclude?"At the same time Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Arabic language for their spiritual and religious development."What subject would you remove from the curriculum so that there is time to learn Arabic?  Why is that better than translating the Arabic books into English?

Richard Jennings ● 5864d

SalaamThe demand for state funded Muslim school is in accordance with the law of the land. Muslim community is not asking for any favour. There are only ten state funded Muslim schools and the British Establishment are ready to fund all Muslim schools. Only less than five percent of Muslim children attend Muslim schools and at the same time, there are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children  are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools.Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. At higher levels, there is no need for a Muslim teacher.The medium of instruction in a Muslim school is English and all of them follow the National curriculum. Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. At the same time Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Arabic language for their spiritual and religious development. Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.Bilingual Muslim children in British schooling has led to a predictable response from the tabloids, which present these children as a problem for "others" children and teachers.This is both racist and wrong. British society must recognise that over 50% of the world now routinely use more than one language in their daily lives and some 85% are able to function at least two. In a global economy these "problem" children are infact, the norm, and in a global sense they are potentially an asset, not a drain. British society should be thankful that the highest achieving students are bilingual.

Iftikhar Ahmad ● 5866d

Bet Harry's been called a few things in his time, re his hair and heritage, but he is not allowed to whine about it in public.

Vivienne James ● 5869d

Nevermind islamophobia! What about sex discrimination. Parents' evening last week... daughter age 15... male teacher... have you thought about where you might like to go to university? Hmmm.My husband said New York (which is true)Teacher sniggers "for the shopping??" I guess he might not have said that to a boy!Why do muslims think they have the monopoly on prejudice?

Vivienne James ● 5869d

Iftikhar, I was hoping you might have responded to my comments rather than copy and pasting text from earlier posts on other forums.  For example, how can you justify separate Muslim schools as a "bridge" between communities when as far as I can see you are trying to keep the communities separate?If Muslim children are to grow up in Britain, they need to understand the British way of life, which has developed over the last century to include the protection of minorities against discrimination.  That includes discrimination by race, religion and sexual orientation.  It's not perfect yet, but it's better than it was. You complain about Islamophobia but seem to be encouraging homophobia by supporting parents who refuse to have their children taught about lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender history. If you deny Muslim children the opportunity to learn about this aspect of British society, you are failing to provide the bridge between communities that you claim to want.

Richard Jennings ● 5873d

Ifty can't do much harm here can he?Given that all posts on this forum are a bonus, it seems a good place to stir him up and encourage the propagation of his loony views.The paucity of posts here is only rivalled by those on the website of the organisation he claims to represent. He doesn't read or reply to anything posted - just spams more vile vitriol. He must put the settings so he is alerted of a post on any of the very many sites he spams... I wonder how long we can get him to do that here. Hurrah for Ifty as the Shepherd's Bush forum saviour!

Sara Nathan ● 5873d

Muslim parents teach their children to respect their teachers. From a very young age, we are taught that Islam teaches us that after our parents, our teachers are most deserving of respect. Also, western politicians put a huge blame on parents for neglecting their children’s upbringing nowadays. Parents are blamed for allowing their children to grow up as uncouth, disrespectful, promiscuous and antisocial members of society. So it must be an extremely confusing time for the Muslim parent in Leytonstone, London. For up to 30 parents may face prosecution for withdrawing their children from school, disobeying the teachers in the school, simply to secure a decent moral upbringing for their children. The school had decided to have a week of lessons about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. Part of this was a special adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet retitled Romeo and Julian as well as fairytales and stories changed to show men falling in love with men. The Muslim parents have been told that local council officials may 'take action' against them for 'unauthorised absences' from school. Last year the Guardian reported statistics published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families showing that a record numbers of pupils persistently played truant in 2006-07, with around 272,950 pupils persistently absent in 2007, missing more than 20% of school. We rarely see councils prosecute the parents of these persistent truants. Yet, the parents who removed their children as a one-off to protect their morality may be prosecuted!If the local council does decide to go through with a prosecution, it would be in line with the government's approach to the Muslim community. Last month Communities Secretary Hazel Blears confirmed what had been leaked in the newspapers, that Muslims who believe homosexuality was a sin against the law of Allah (swt) would be labelled as extremists. Liberal totalitarianism is a growing phenomenon in Britain and the west in general but many people will be shocked that the school can override a parent's view of what's appropriate or inappropriate to teach their children. This latest episode should be a wakeup call for Muslim parents. Teachers are paid to teach our children. They are certainly not paid to impose their liberal values on our children. Muslim parents MUST explain our moral standards to schools and be prepared to take steps to protect our children’s morals and values from a growing agenda to impose liberal values upon them. The solution of all the problems facing Muslim children is state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers. Those state schools where Muslim children are in majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. “O you who believe. Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern (and) severe, who disobey not, (from executing) the commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded.” [TMQ At-Tahrim 66:6] 

Iftikhar Ahmad ● 5874d

You don't create a bridge between communities by segregating their education; quite the opposite, as was seen in Northern Ireland.You seem to regard English as a secondary language for your community, only needed in order to progress with higher education.  No wonder you think that bridges between communities are needed if you tolerate such a gulf between them.  Children in England should be brought up to regard English as their mother tongue.  If the parents fail to do that, then the state may need to use bilingual teachers to teach English, but please don't pretend that this is a desirable situation.By all means preserve the families' cultural heritage, whether that is linguistic, ethnic or religious. But that should not prevent children of Muslim families from growing up together with children in their local neighbourhood from different backgrounds. To say that "there is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school" is an appallingly intolerant remark in my view. 

Richard Jennings ● 5874d