Multi-faith Schools - Political Forum

Iftikhar · 02-25-2007, 06:04 AM

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

Brother Oz · 02-25-2007, 07:44 AM

I have to say I agree in that I really don't think a "multi-faith" school is really any different at all from a bob-standard comp. I don't however think that we need Muslim state schools. In practice these simply break Muslims away from teh rest of the community when we need them integrated.

Fox · 02-25-2007, 03:47 PM

I went to public school and knew Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, etc. I don't really think it's all that big of a deal.

choclosteve · 02-25-2007, 09:11 PM

I sure would not like to see the state support religious schools of any kind in US. Most of our religious schools have been Catholic, and private

Brother Oz · 02-26-2007, 05:27 AM

Here we have lots of religious schools. Mainly Anglican, about a third of primary schools are Anglican. The Anglican church gets loads of money, as it owns a huge amount of land and property, but it spends most of it on these schools (while the majority of the money for these schools comes from the state, a large proportion comes from the Church). These schools are very popular, as due to the extra money they get from the Church, they tend to be a lot better. Anglican schools are basically charities, they do teach Anglicanism, and Anglicans get preference, but anyone is allowed in if there's room, there's even one Anglican school which has more than half Muslims.
Catholic schools are a bit different, although they work the same way financially, they are not for everyone, they are designed to educate the local Catholic community, and it's very difficult to get in if you can't get a priest to tell the school that you regularly attend Catholic school. I went to one myself, and it was pretty difficult to get in since my parents went to a Baptist church, I just got in because I went to a Catholic primary school. There are several thousand Catholic schools, but nowhere near as many as Anglican schools, since we are a traditionally, and officially, Anglican nation.
There are 8 Muslim state schools, which teach Islam like Catholic schools teach Catholicism, although obviously they still have to follow the national curriculum. There are also a number of private Muslim schools, which have more academic freedom. Two pf these have been in the news, because they're Saudi-funded and use textbooks that describe Christians as pigs and Jews as apes.
There are also private Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and other Christian schools.
Still, the majority of schools in Britain are non-religious schools, and over 90% are either non-religious or Anglican.

Slartibartfas · 02-26-2007, 09:14 AM

I disagree with parts of the initial post of this thread. The goal of integration is very well to bring the different faiths and cultures into contact with each other. Just serving the needs of the different groups while fostering the isolation from between the groups is quite the opposite of integration. (just look at the fundamental meaning of the word).

Apart from that I am not sure what this so special thing about those "multi faith" schools should be. I mean here in Austria we the public schools are for all, (private schools exist but are more the exception than the rule) and most importantly for all faiths. The religious teacher are paid by the state and made available by the different religious organisations. Principally everyone is free to join any religion class he likes. Muslims have no problem attending the Islam classes.

And important feature hereby is that the Islam classes are in German. The second important feature is that the Islamic organisations in Austria have no problem with that. There is nowhere written that you can not be faithful Muslim while speaking German.

Brother Oz · 02-26-2007, 09:32 AM

That's interesting, you're saying the schools teach the kids about their own religions?
In our schools everyone stays together and learns about the different religions. I think that's better: it's more important to learn about other religions in school than your own, which you already know about.

Slartibartfas · 02-26-2007, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Oz

That's interesting, you're saying the schools teach the kids about their own religions?
In our schools everyone stays together and learns about the different religions. I think that's better: it's more important to learn about other religions in school than your own, which you already know about.

I can only speak for the religion classes I had, which was roman catholic. We had many interesting discussion etc. And we talked also about the different world religions, what they believe in, what is holy to other faiths, how the "commandments" look like etc.

I dont know how it is handled among other teachers or other relgions in Austria. There are outlines for what is to be taught in the classes however, if am not wrong.

When this system was introduced it was very progressive indeed. After all is the Islam already an official states religion (among catholicism and protestantism) for a whole century or so.

Whereas I have to say this staying together has its charm.

PS: Because it fits to the topic ahead. I had personally a completely different experience back then in school than media reports now day in day out. The Muslims in my school where so totally uninterested in religion, they hardly knew much about Mohamed and what he did. (Despite the fact that they had Islam classes) In fact our own catholic religion teacher was a real expert on Islam in comparison to them.

Brother Oz · 02-26-2007, 11:29 AM

I think that is something common amongst the older generation of Muslims, many of them are very nominal, just like the nominal Christians common across Europe. I think there is a revival of interest in Islam among the younger generation though, today's young Muslims do know quite a bit about it.

Slartibartfas · 02-26-2007, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Oz

I think that is something common amongst the older generation of Muslims, many of them are very nominal, just like the nominal Christians common across Europe. I think there is a revival of interest in Islam among the younger generation though, today's young Muslims do know quite a bit about it.

Yes indeed. It might also be that the rural Muslims here in Austria are also different from the urban ones. After all is the access of the religious organisations far less in the wide rural regions.

What is interesting however that those Muslims I talk about are nowadays perhaps 24 years old. So I would count them to the young generation. Still things probably have changed in the meanwhile and its part of the struggle to find a new identity that people of the 2nd and 3rd generation increasingly try to find it in a rediscovery of islam. The first generatioi did not need to find its identity, they had one deep inside already, no need to more religious than they were before.