open Democracy News Analysis - Why State Funded Muslim Schools, - Comments

guysigs on "Why State Funded Muslim Schools"

guysigs — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:10:24 +0100

I don't understand this thread because I don't understand what the phrase "Muslim children" means. It's like saying "Tory children", "New Labour children", or "Liberal Democrat children". We don't allow children to vote because we know they're too young to have thought through the issues for themselves, and they're under too much home pressure to replicate their parents' opinions. As with politics, so with religion.

SandyA on "Why State Funded Muslim Schools"

SandyA — Sun, 22 Aug 2004 17:23:11 +0100

I disagree with everything Iftikhar Ahmad says. These sorts of arguments make me really angry because they are divisive, racist and aim to perpetuate the lack of understanding between peoples of different ethnic origins. If I had my way, schools would be entirely secular institutions: I would ban all faith schools, regardless of whether they were publically or privately funded. If parents wish to indoctrinate their children into their own belief system, they have plenty of opportunity in the evenings, weekends and school holidays to do so. In the meantime, the children would have the opportunity, during school hours, to gain some understanding of the complexities of the broader society in which they live. We owe this to all our children -- to equip them for life. We need our children to be mixing with those from other faiths, classes and races to develop understanding and tolerance; not segregating them into educational ghettoes.

Why State Funded Muslim Schools,

info_28 — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 21:05:37 +0100

London School of Islamics An Educational Trust 63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD E-mail: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667 Why State Funded Muslim Schools British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s. Read the rest of this post...