Newsline 31 July 2015

NSS calls for new inspection of Islamic school that bans “socialising with outsiders”

News | Mon, 27th Jul 2015

The National Secular Society has written to the Department for Education and Ofsted calling for a fresh inspection of an Islamic school where pupils are reportedly banned from socialising with "outsiders".

Sky News reported on 25 July that the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic Institute of Education in Dewsbury threatens students with expulsion if they socialise with non-Muslims, and that boarders are banned from using televisions and cameras, as well as music players, mobile phones and other "items that are prohibited in Islam".

Pupils must wear strict Islamic dress and receive no formal sex education at the independent faith school.

However despite this, the last inspection by Ofsted in 2011 rated the school as "good".

Ofsted praised the school for the "excellent tracking and assessment system in place" for lessons on the memorisation of the Quran. The inspection report said that "Qur'anic memorisation [is] outstanding."

The 2011 inspection found that "students have an excellent understanding of their own Muslim culture" but have "no first-hand experiences" at all to "extend their empathy with differing cultural groups in society both at home and overseas."

The school says it aims to "create competent native Islamic scholars."

The Ofsted report recommended that the school develop "links with other schools to provide students with opportunities to socialise and learn with their peers in different environments", which is in stark contrast to the rules uncovered by Sky News which prohibit social interactions with non-Muslims.

Since 2014, independent schools have been required to "actively promote" the fundamental values "of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs."

The National Secular Society has written to the Department for Education and Ofsted calling for an inspection to take place under the new rules as a matter of urgency.

Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: "The most recent inspection of the Tablighi Jamaat Islamic Institute of Education predates the revision of the regulations, but we believe there are serious doubts as to whether the school sufficiently met the standards in operation at the time of its previous inspection.

"A fresh inspection is therefore necessary to ensure that the school is meeting the New Independent School Standards and adequately preparing its students for life in modern Britain.

"It is important that throughout all aspects of education there is an emphasis on the basic values that underpin a free, equal and progressive society. No establishment found to be involved in promoting ideas that are counter-cohesive, separatist and contrary to the values outlined in the standards should be permitted to operate as registered school."

The National Secular Society responded to a Government consultation on the new standards for independent schools in August 2014, and warned at the time that any attempt to tackle extremism in schools would be "undermined by an education system that encourages faith based schools and allows children … to be separated according to the religious beliefs of their parents."

The new guidance states that "pupils must be encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance".

The Prime Minister recently made a significant speech on tackling extremism in which he said that "it cannot be right" that "people can grow up and go to school and hardly ever come into meaningful contact with people from other backgrounds and faiths."

While the NSS welcomed much of his speech, his refusal to tackle faith schools ignored a key factor which drives ethnic and social segregation in the UK today.

David Cameron added that "you don't have to support violence to subscribe to certain intolerant ideas which create a climate in which extremists can flourish."

Mr Evans added, "The insular nature of the Institute of Islamic Education and its prohibition on socialising with non-Muslims sounds like a case study in what the Prime Minister warned about. We hope a new investigation is carried out as soon as possible."

Christians shouldn’t put self-interest above Britain’s need to better integrate

Opinion | Fri, 31st Jul 2015

The long history of Christian involvement in state education shouldn't stand in the way of a more integrated education system, argues Stephen Evans.

No sooner had David Cameron finished delivering his landmark speech on extremism which stressed the need for British citizens to better integrate, the Catholic Education Service set to work on a press release arguing that the PM was wrong on integration and setting out why it should continue to be allowed to use public money to religiously segregate children.

The part of the Prime Minister's speech that really seems to have upset them was where he suggested that dividing children by their parents' religion and bussing them to different areas might not the right approach for Britain.

This is a particularly sensitive topic for Catholics. For many years Catholic parents have taken advantage of local authorities' generous subsidising of the transport costs when they've opted to send their child to a more distant religious school rather than their catchment school closer to home.

In recent years, a number of local authorities have decided to cut this discretionary (not to mention discriminatory) expenditure, opting instead to only provide transport to pupils' nearest available school. It would be nice to think this was because they realised it was wrong in principle to treat religious families favourably and subsidise religious segregation, but in reality, it's because their budgets have been slashed and they have to make savings wherever they can.

Catholic schools are some of the most socially selective schools in the country - bastions of discrimination - selecting their pupils of the basis of their parents' religious beliefs and activities and teachers on the basis of their "personal conviction and practice of the faith". Do you really need to be "witnesses in word and deed to the Divine Teacher, Jesus Christ" in order to teach Maths, as this Memorandum on the appointment of teachers in Catholic Schools suggests?

The Catholic Church is even refusing to open free schools because the 50 per cent limit on school places they can allocate on the basis of faith wouldn't enable them to keep the non-Catholics out.

They will claim, sometimes with justification, that due to the cultural diversity of Catholics in some areas, Catholic schools are vibrant mix children of various ethnic, social and economic backgrounds.

But that doesn't alter the fact that, as a country, Britain needs to move away from religiously segregated schooling.

We live in an age of equality. If Catholics have their own state funded schools, every other religious group will have to have their own state funded schools, leading to a horribly balkanised school system. Children from Anglican, Muslim (Sunni and Shia?), Hindu, Jewish and Sikh, backgrounds, separated and educated in accordance to the teachings of 'their' religion. What could possibly go wrong?

Unsurprisingly, the public mood in Northern Ireland, where it did go wrong, is for an end to segregated schools. That's because after years of conflict they've realised the importance of breaking down barriers and allowing children to live, learn and play together from an early age.

In his speech, David Cameron said: "It cannot be right that people can grow up and go to school and hardly ever come into meaningful contact with people from other backgrounds and faiths."

He is absolutely right, and in time perhaps he may even find it within himself to call into question the whole concept of faith schooling. Instead, he says he's"the first to support the great education they provide". "I chose one for my own children" he added.

But if he really wants schools to be truly inclusive and based on "British values" of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs - he might have to accept that they shouldn't also be based around religious doctrine.

Perhaps David Cameron thinks its fine for his fluffy Anglicanism to be drummed into Britain's youngsters, but doesn't care so much for some of the more orthodox stuff.

The Prime Minister recently insisted Britain was a 'Christian country'. But the privileging of Christianity - so incongruously prevalent in today's society - makes demands for the privileging of other religions much harder to resist.

Parents of all religious persuasions may regard the passing on their particular faith and religious values to their children as vitally important, but this should be regarded as a parental role, not the role of the state.

According to Pope Benedict XVI, the primary mission of Catholic educational institutions is to allow students to "encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth". But the state should concern itself with education in the more traditionally understood sense of the word - and ensuring that children are properly equipped for life as citizens in modern Britain.

Both the Anglican and Catholic Churches have long been able to use publicly funded schools to inculcate children into their religious traditions. Their reluctance to let go of that privilege is understandable. But for the sake of young people's future, people of all faiths should accept that faith-based education isn't in Britain's best interest.

Let's educate our children together.

This blog was originally posted on the Huffington Post.