Author:
Publication: BBC News
Date: December 12, 2001
Education ministers' desire to see
more faith schools in England continues to cause controversy, following
the reports on the riots in northern towns this summer.
The education spokesman in Bradford,
one of the towns affected, Liberal Democrat David Ward, has said he would
support the abolition of single faith schools.
"I believe that prejudice is created
when people are kept apart," he said.
"I also believe automatically, naturally
that prejudice is broken down when people mix.
"And you don't do that by having
sixth form discussions about the need to understand and appreciate different
cultures," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Long history
"You do it by sitting next to people,
sharing your rubbers, sharing your rulers, sharing your bag of crisps.
That's how you actually get to know other people."
The idea of having a quota system
for minority pupils within schools dominated by one faith or culture -
proposed in one of the official reports on the summer's disturbances -
was impractical because it would involve "massive bussing" of children
across Bradford.
Asked whether he would support the
abolition of single faith schools, Mr Ward said: "That's an enormous step
to take, and you're taking in hundreds and hundreds of years of history
there.
"I would personally like to do that.
As long as it's legal for there to be faith schools then of course I must
support that."
But he said he would not mourn their
passing and he did not think the majority of people in the country would.
Generations 'failed'
A former Bradford head teacher,
Ray Honeyford, who was forced to step down after attacking the idea of
multi-culturalism, said there were now 14 religions in the country and
if they all wanted their own schools there would be "chaos".
He said most Muslim parents did
not want separate schools for their children - so those who advocated them
tended towards extremism.
But the director of the London School
of Islamics educational trust, Iftikhar Ahmad, argues that "the silent
majority" of Muslim parents do want separate schools because multi-culturalism
has failed their children.
The Muslim community had lost three
generations who had not been educated properly for their own society or
for British society at large.
"The children should be educated
according to the wishes and demands of the parents," he said.
But Muslim communities did not have
the resources to set up schools for all their children.
So there did need to be government
help to do so. He proposed that state schools where Muslim pupils were
in a majority anyway should be handed over to Muslim educational trusts.
Recognition
The head of the Church of England
board of education, Canon John Hall, said the government Community Cohesion
Review Team report on the riots - the Cantle report - had said the segregation
problem arose because of schools where one community happened to be in
a majority - whether they were faith schools or not.
He said there were about 70 Muslim
schools which were independent - so were not required to teach the national
curriculum.
"I think the proposal to extend
the number of faith schools ought to bring those into the maintained system,
so that they are giving the national curriculum with citizenship education,
are subject to inspection and appraisal and all the rest of it."
Commission for Racial Equality research
showed that Muslim youngsters tended to regard their religion as being
more important in their lives than did others.
If they were educated in schools
which did not take proper account of their faith, they were less likely
to grow up as well-rounded individuals, Canon Hall said.
