I have been campaigning for state funded Muslim schools since 70s but neither the Muslim community nor the British Government paid any attention to my proposal.
Human beings are the product of their culture, languages and faith. All of them go hand in hand. One can't live by faith alone.
Bilingual Muslim children need to learn standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher stuies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.. State schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers have been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for a long time. Majority of them leave schools with low grades. They find themselves cut off from their cultural roots, literature and poetry. All of them suffer for identity crises. They do not know where they belong.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.
British tax-payers have been funding nearly 7000 Church schools for a long time and not a single Brit ever raised his finger against them.
Now Muslim community has the right to demand state funded Muslim schools for their bilingual children and each and every Tom and Harry do not want to see state funded Muslim schools. If Muslims have their own school that's indoctrination and segregation, according to British society.
State schools with monolingual non-Muslim teachers have been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 60 years. Majority of them leave schools with low grades. They find themselves cut off from their cultural roots and are unable to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.
British schooling is the home of institutional racism and native teachers are chicken racist. This is the main reason why all minority groups would like to have their own state funded schools with their own teachers. Now Hindu community has set up the first state funded school in Harrow and next year in Leicester. Black community is also thinking and planning a school for their children with black teachers as role models.
According to a recent report, Muslim schools performed best overall, although they constitute only a fraction of the country's 7000 schools. Muslim schools do well because of their Islamic ethos and a focus on traditional discipline and teaching methods. They teach children what is right and what is wrong, because young children need structured guidance.
We would like all Muslim children to be educated in Muslim schools with Muslim teachers as role models. They need to learn and be well versed in standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. After leaving Muslim schools they can decide whether to follow their own culture and faith or follow western culture and way of life. For the time being they have no choice. All of them suffer from identity crises. They do not know where they belong.
Please visit
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk for more information on this crucial and complicated issue.
Iftikhar Ahmad