Archbishop says “faith schools” don’t divide children. Hindu leader says they do
Speaking in Lancashire this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury pleaded with local politicians in Burnley, Blackburn and Preston not to “play the race card” when searching for votes, but at the same time he denied that “faith schools” played any part in keeping communities separated from each other.
He was speaking as two Muslim boarding schools for girls are being built in the Burnley area and even more “faith schools” are being created from the Building Schools for the Future shake-up. He remains convinced that, somehow, separating children on religious grounds helps them to integrate.
Williams insisted: “It’s not faith schools that are the root of the problem. Divisions come about because of economics or a perceived sense of injustice. You do not address it by doing away with faith schools. Sometimes communities need that to build their own confidence. But if it’s just about putting up the shutters it’s not going to work.”
Terry Sanderson, President of the National Secular Society, said: “He says they help communities ‘build their own confidence’. That sounds to me like saying that they can develop separately, and no-one will disturb these little outposts of Pakistan in Britain. We accept that there is deprivation and lack of opportunity in these communities – but when they insist on keeping themselves apart from the mainstream, and are encouraged to do so by constant pandering to religious extremism, what else can you expect? If Rowan Williams really believes these divisive schools are somehow unifying, he is quite the opposite of the thinker some say he is. Or maybe Archbishop is just making self-serving justifications for religious schools. Either way what he is doing is irrational and extremely dangerous. The reality is that these schools keep our children from getting to know each other across cultural boundaries.”
Meanwhile, Vijaya Gupta, president of the Hindu Cultural Society in Slough, Berkshire raised serious questions over the claimed benefits of single religion schooling and has warned that initiatives such as the town’s upcoming “interfaith week” serve only a limited purpose.
Mr Gupta — an acknowledged champion of community cohesion — has called for a dramatic shake-up in the bid to strengthen bonds between members of different communities in the town and he believes that the key lies in education. He said: “Community cohesion should be strengthened at two levels, firstly on a social level, which involves schools, festivals and community events, and secondly on a political level, which unfortunately is rather more difficult. I believe that faith schools promote exclusiveness and this is not a good thing for our children. The best educational institutions are the ones which cater to the educational needs of students irrespective of religion, faith or nationality. That is multi-culturalism in the right sense.”
Slough, with its large ethnic minority populations, has seen the rise of a number of “faith schools” including the Iqra Islamic Primary School and the Khalsa Primary School. However, Mr Gupta also points out the growing resentment among “faith communities” as some see others receiving what they believe is privileged attention while they feel neglected.
He said: “I feel that there is a policy of appeasement which caters to the populist demands on the basis of numbers. Some faiths are pampered and get undue attention while others feel marginalised. Relations of faith leaders are good at a social level, but when it comes to policy, grants and budgets some faiths are left out.”
Terry Sanderson commented: “This growing feeling of unease among competing religions – with some feeling resentful at the privileges being granted to others – is inevitable when you try to satisfy all the unending demands of ‘faith groups’. Secularism is the only answer to this: let religions get on with its own business at its own expense. There is no law that says we have to pour public money into the promotion of religion, but there is a very good argument that doing so will eventually backfire.”
See also:
£25million of taxpayers’ money to build biggest Jewish school in Europe
Welsh Labour leadership candidate says “let faith schools wither on the vine”