An Open Letter to Lord Nash

[Iftikhar]

~~An Open Letter to Lord Nash
Education of Bilingual Muslim Children
Education Acts 1996 - Aims of National Curriculum
'...promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the schools and of society and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experience of adult life.'
Human Rights act 1998:
Legally, the state has an obligation to respect the rights of parents to ensure that 'education and teaching(of their children) is in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.'
The schools must satisfy the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural needs of Muslim pupils. State schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers are not in a position to satisfy their needs.
A good school is not just a knowledge factory or a conveyor belt for churning out exam passes - it is a community, a family. A community is held together by common values and principles.


It is a common saying that British schooling is upholding British values of integration, respect, tolerance and equality. But all minority groups find British schooling is the home of institutional racism and British teachers are chicken racist. This is one of the many reasons why they would like to see their children attending their own schools with their own teachers. Muslim community started setting up school in the 80s and I set up the first Muslim school in 1981 and now there are 180 Muslim schools and only 12 are state funded. Sikh and Hindu communities have set up their own schools. Now Black community is thinking of setting up schools with their own teachers.


Western media and politicians have been trying their best to propagate against Muslim schools. Muslim schools are even called Osama bin Laden Academies by a Teaching Union. Only less than 5% of Muslim children attend Muslim schools while more than 95% are in state schools to be mis-educated and de-educated by non-Muslim monolingual teachers. The demand for state funded Muslim schools is in accordance with the law of the land. Muslim community is not asking for any favour. Muslim community pays all sorts of taxes and is less burden on social services. Church leaders say it is no longer "appropriate" for them to run Sacred Heart RC Primary School which has just six Christian pupils. The school in Blackburn, Lancs, could be handed to the nearby Masjid-e-Tauheedul mosque.


The Muslim community has been passing through a phase of fourth Crusades. The battleground is the field of education, where the young generation will be educated properly with the Holly Quran in one hand and Sciences in other hand to serve the British society and the world at large. A true Muslim is a citizen of the world, which has become a small global village. We are going to prepare our youth to achieve that objective in the long run. A true Muslim believes in Prophet Moses and the Prophet Jesus and without them one cannot be a Muslim. My suggestion is that in all state, independent and Christian based school special attention should be given to the teaching of Comparative Religion and Islam should be taught by qualified Muslim Teachers to make the children aware the closeness of Islam to Christianity and Judaism which will help them to think about Islam, as “A Pragmatic and Modern Way of Life,” during their life time.


Muslim schooling is on the rise in the West. Anti-Muslim attitudes in state schools contribute to its growth. There are 240 to 250 private Islamic schools in the U.S and 180 Muslim schools in the United Kingdom and out of that 12 are state funded. The increasing enrolment in these schools reflects the religion’s growing number of Muslims and the desire of parents to shelter young Muslims from discrimination and discomfort they might encounter at state schools. But Islamic schools, like mosques and other Islamic institutions, can be viewed with distrust and even hostility. Jewish Schools in Israel teach Children about Evolution. They have a curious way of teaching it. They said the Jews were made by god and the Palestinians evolved from apes. On the other hand, Muslim schools teach children that human beings are from Adam and Eve (peace be upon them).




The demand for Muslim schools comes from parents who want their children a safe environment with an Islamic ethos. Parents see Muslim schools where children can develop their Islamic Identity where they won't feel stigmatised for being Muslims and they can feel confident about their faith. Muslim schools are working to try to create a bridge between communities. There is a belief among ethnic minority parents that the British schooling does not adequately address their cultural needs. Failing to meet this need could result in feeling resentment among a group who already feel excluded. Setting up Muslim school is a defensive response. State schools with monolingual teachers are not capable to teach English to bilingual Muslim children. Bilingual teachers are needed to teach English to such children along with their mother tongue. According to a number of studies, a child will not learn a second language if his first language is ignored.
“A good grasp of one’s mother tongue is an essential base for a child who then has to get to grips with the language of their host country,” reckons Amelia Lambelet of the Fribourg Institute of Multilingualism. Therese Salzmann, an expert in multilingualism at the Swiss Institute of Youth and Media, agrees. “The teaching of mother tongues reinforces self-confidence and gives the child a feeling of security.” She adds that “taking account of a child’s double cultures is a determining factor in their social integration and professional success.”
Each language is a reflection of society. “Knowing a language and mastering its expression reinforces the idea that the child is part of a group and helps build a rounded personality that is able to open up to other cultures,” says Hélène Char, in charge of Swiss Intercultural Libraries, an association that promotes reading in other languages. She also believes singing is important. “The songs that parents sing to their children as well as the texts that they read them in their maternal language help the children learn other foreign languages.” Given the significance of a child’s first language, integrating it into the school day would be a step towards the goal of offering equal opportunity to all pupils, reckons Salzmann. “It is a shame that most school programmes are taught in one language, because exposure to other languages is reduced.”
With this in mind, Hélène Char points to Austria, where some teaching of migrants’ first languages is included in the school programme, mainly at the primary school level. But even though that initiative has garnered favour among parents and children, many teachers and experts think it is a waste of time and a useless increase in workload for children, according to a study entitled The Teaching of Foreign Languages in European Union Countries led by José Carlos Herreras. Lambelet admits that “encouraging the teaching of mother tongues and the culture that goes with them in the public school system doesn’t do much to change the reality of equal pupil opportunity”.
The sound knowledge of one’s owns language would appear to help – not hinder the acquisition of a second language and bilingual children may even have cognitive advantages and that the ability to speak more than one language is going to be increasingly important for the world of the future. Therefore, Muslim children and young Muslims have potentially a major educational advantage, although sadly this is not being developed well at present. British policy makers now recognise bilingualism as an educational asset rather than a problem. Education plays a central role in the transmission of languages from one generation to the next. The teaching of mother tongues is essential in terms of culture and identity. Arabic is a religious language for the Muslims but for Pakistanis, Urdu is also essential for culture and identity. Blind Muslim children in Bradford are learning to read Arabic and Urdu Braille, by a blind teacher who travelled from Pakistan. Now blind Muslim children are not going to miss out on culture, religion, language and the social aspects and integration into their own community and identity.

It is absurd to believe that Muslim schools, Imams and Masajid teach Muslim children anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-western views. It is dangerously deceptive and misleading to address text books and discuss them out of their historical, cultural and linguistic context. It is not wrong to teach children that Jews are committing the same cruelty in Palestine what German did to them before or during Second World War. It is not wrong to teach children that anti-social behaviour, drinking, drugs, homosexuality, sex before marriage, teenage pregnancies and abortions are western values and Islam is against all such sins. This does not mean that Muslim schools teach children to hate westerners, Jews and homosexuals.
Extremism, homophobia and anti-Semitism are nothing to do with Islamic teachings and beliefs. Islam does not teach that Jews and Christians are pigs and monkeys. The Policy Exchange Think-tank should concentrate on institutionally racist British schooling with chicken racist teachers. Muslim parents do not want their children with behaviour problems that include unprovoked aggression, promiscuity, violence, eating disorder, bullying and alcohol. According to ATL, teachers believe behaviour is worse than it was five years ago, with even five year olds being disrespectful, intimidating and violent. This is the true picture of British broken society and the Muslim community does not want to be integrated. The British government is again asking us, Muslims, to adopt the" British values" and to integrate fully into the British way of life. But many so called "British values" are not acceptable to us. We would like to confirm again that we practising Muslim believers will never ever adopt or integrate into all these "destructive and immoral values":


-Sexual immorality, sleeping around, affairs, adultery and fornication, illegitimacy, teenage pregnancy, immoral sex education, pills and condoms and Morning after-pill to every one? (The contraceptive mentality).
-Sexually immoral programmes and messages daily on all TV and many radio channels and in magazines and newspapers.
- The legalisation of homosexuality and homosexual practices (gays and lesbians).
-the culture of death: killing every day 600 innocent unborn babies through abortion. And the killing of our old sick patients after stopping food and fluid to make them die from starvation and dehydration (Mental capacity Bill).
-Alcoholic drinks and drug abuse which are causing hellish problems in all sectors in our society.
-Yob culture
-Gender-bending: women becoming like men and vice versa.
-Disrespect for motherhood and full time mothers.
-Broken families and neglect of elderly parents who are suffering and dying alone.
-Unjust campaign of "Death and destruction" on concocted pretext.


Let us all: people from all faiths (Islam, Christianity...) and from all nationalities: ADOPT FULLY THE DIVINE HUMANE SAFE HEALTHY AND ECONOMICALLY BENEFICIAL VALUES:
*Morality, Chastity and fidelity, heterosexuality.
*Clean safe media.
*The Sacredness of life/Culture of life (no abortion, no assisted suicide and no Euthanasia).
*Avoidance of poisons (alcohol and drugs).
*Clear, natural, healthy, different genders, procreation/full time mothers.
*Healthy, stable extended families with care and love to our weak old parents.
*Peace, not wars.
*No occupation of anyone else's land.


Thank GOD, our Christian friends and believers and many other sensible people in our society, do share with us almost all these DIVINE values.
We know its right, so let's do it.


British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. The result is that Muslim children are unable to develop self-confidence and self-esteem, therefore, majority of them leaves schools with low grades. Racism is deeply rooted in British society. Every native child is born with a gene or virus of racism, therefore, no law could change the attitudes of racism towards those who are different. It is not only the common man; even member of the royal family is involved in racism. The father of a Pakistani officer cadet who was called a "***" by Prince Harry has profoundly condemned his actions. He had felt proud when he met the Queen and the Prince of Wales at his son's passing out parade at Sandhurst in 2006 but now felt upset after learning about the Prince's comments. Queen Victoria invited an Imam from India to teach her Urdu language. He was highly respected by the Queen but other members of the royal family had no respect for him. He was forced to go back to India. His portrait is still in one of the royal places. British schools are not doing enough to tackle racism and promote race relations. Many teachers are unaware of racist attitudes amongst pupils. Schools have a responsibility not only to deal with racist incidents but also to prepare pupils for life in a multicultural and multiracial society. At least one racist incident is reported daily in Bolton schools, according to stats obtained from Bolton Council by Mancunian Matters. Bolton Council of Mosques Manager, Ibrahim Kala, said the data is only the “tip of the iceberg” and that Islamophobia makes up a large portion of the reported incidents. Stats obtained through the Freedom of Information request show 2,397 cases of racism in Bolton schools in the years from 2004 to 2013, meaning on average there are 1.26 racist incidents occur daily – and these are only the ones being reported.


According to Child Line, several young people who had the courage to tell a teacher then found that nothing happened or that they were given advice to simply ignore the bullies, which they found unhelpful and ineffective. Others were reluctant to speak out, fearing that the situation would become worse. Some actions taken by the school made things worse, some children said. For example, racist bullying being discussed in assembly simply advertised it and led to increased abusive behaviour. This kind of bullying seems to be happening much more at school and on the way to school than on social media. Some of the children who’ve spoken to us say that they’ve told a teacher and they didn’t do anything. Another said ‘I told a teacher and it became a topic in assembly,’ which is horrendous.
Liberal democrat peer, Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece, posed a question in the Lords yesterday about the Child line report published recently which revealed the extent of racist and Islamophobic bullying in schools.
The Baroness asked “what steps are being taken to address the reported increase in the number of children who contacted Child line in the last year complaining of racist and Islamophobic bullying.”


Baroness Ece also drew attention to the report’s mention of taunts faced by Muslim schoolchildren, who referred to being called “bombers” and “terrorists”, asking “[what] systems [will be] put in place so that teachers can deal with it at source rather than children having to go to Child Line?”
British society must learn to respect and tolerate those who are different. God has created diverse human beings to live in this tiny global village of one family. Creation by its very nature is diverse with different species, different communities, different cultures and languages. These differences represent the beauty and wonder but diversity is sometimes not fully appreciated, resulting in all sorts of clashes. The British society and Establishment must learn to respect and accommodate others, as if in a family. A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion found that native parents were deserting some schools after finding their children outnumbered by pupils from ethnic minorities. Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated. The study focused on 13 local authorities. Many of the schools and colleges are segregated and this was generally worsening over recent years. This is RACISM because British society is the home of institutional racism. A study by Bristol University reveals that a high level of racial segregation in Oldham schools and tension between communities resulted in recent riots in 2001. The solution is that those schools where Muslim children are majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. The native parents do not want their children to be educated along with migrant children. As soon as they find that the number of other children is on the increase, they remove their children to those schools where native children are in majority.


During colonial days, British did not follow local customs or culture. They didn't exactly "go native". They even forced the Native Americans and native Australian to adopt all the evils of their culture and customs. They are still the underdogs of American and Australian societies. At least Australian Prime Minister apologised to the natives for their evil deeds. Brits living in Spain and France don't even bother learning the language of the new adopted country. Frankly suggesting that people don't want to become "British" they should move elsewhere is extremely irritating. Immigrants are in UK because they are needed, it was never an act of charity. Without migration, British economy and society will bleed to death. British culture and customs will undoubtedly change as it has for millennium due to immigration. I am not quite sure why Brits would be worried about that.
Bradford has been named as having the second worst performing secondary schools in the country, according to Ofsted judgements. Figures published by the school’s inspector suggest 71 per cent of secondary school students in Bradford are attending schools deemed “not good enough” by the Government. While only five per cent in Bradford were officially labelled as “inadequate” by Ofsted, a massive 66 per cent attend schools which only reach “satisfactory”. In his first annual report published yesterday, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said he was “worried” about the number of pupils across the country attending schools “judged to be no better than satisfactory”.
The regional director for Ofsted, Mike Cladingbowl, told the Telegraph & Argus that children were not getting the education they deserved. He said it was not simply down to children’s backgrounds but the quality of school leadership was the biggest factor. Education chiefs and leaders in the district have warned that while more needs to be done, the report fails to show the improvement made in Bradford in recent years. Bradford West MP George Galloway said: “Good and outstanding are the very least we should expect – we want every school in the city to be at least a good standard and these results are completely and utterly shaming of consecutive councils and in particular the Labour one. “Since the first day I arrived in Bradford it has been a campaigning issue, determined to get the standards of schools in this city raised, to get every single one at least at the good standard. “It’s absolutely unacceptable that the majority of schools in this city are failing pupils and parents.”
The Derby Free Muslim School is in a mess because the Board of Governors have appointed a non-Muslim head teacher along with couple of non-Muslim female teachers. They do not understand and respect the needs and demands of the Muslim children. Majority of children are from Pakistan, they need to learn and be well versed in Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural heritage and enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. It is their social and emotional language. The school does not teach Urdu language. The school only teaches Arabic language which is a religious language. A Muslim must learn and be well versed in Standard English, Arabic and Urdu and other community languages. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. The television newscaster Sir Trevor McDonald is a champion of introducing foreign modern languages even at primary level in schools in Britain. The Muslim community would like to see Arabic, Urdu and other community languages introduced at nursery, primary and secondary schools along with European languages so that Muslim pupils have these options. Bilingualism is great. It's hard to be really educated without being bilingual, because speaking a different language creates a different world and gives you a totally different perspective on life. So immigrants who speak other languages besides English are a great educational resource. He knows not England/English who only England/English knows.

It’s Muslim school. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. Most jobs have a dress code. If you do not like it, you need not apply. You will never be happy with what Muslims do; you don't even appreciate the fact that non Muslims were invited to work in a Muslim school. The dress code is hijab, no one is forcing you to work there take it or leave it. It's a non story yet again. More propaganda that all you middle class moaners fall for every single time. For example, one of my friends once had a job in a cafe. The manager didn't want me to wear wrist bands from several festivals I had been to, we disagreed and I stood my ground and quit. That is the EXACT same situation as this, why didn't my story get in the DM? Because it doesn't fit with this (and many other) newspapers agenda of keeping us in a society of fear and hate. You people fall for it over and over again.
No other school / free school have been inspected with this rigour - the reality is because of the headscarf issue the school has been subject to a witch hunt! Not sure if Mr Williamson is aware there are schools under Derby City council in special measures also? Maybe he does not read the local press? The truth is most MP's send their kids to private schools so it does not matter about state schools for them”
How can it be called a failed school when it has only been opened a year, when it has been open 5 years and students have completed their GCSE's that's when you can pass judgement. Maybe our local MP should look at some at schools under the LEA and the **** results they are producing before he goes asking for closures.
About the scarf issue - it is a Muslim school so what is a biggy - I was made to wear a tie and a skirt (when boys could wear trousers) because it was school policy??? I do not recall any local MP trying to close our school down???”
There is no requirement for teaching staff to hold appropriate qualifications or have the necessary experience; there is no requirement to follow the national curriculum, which does work towards recognised qualifications. In my town the children attending the state schools have below average attainments at GCSE compared to the national average. The children are not achieving their full potential and are being let down by the qualified teachers at these schools. Although I’ve no doubt that there are many non-’qualified’ people who could teach as well as, or better than, many of those certificated to do so. A very real concern is that those who teach in state schools (often also including “assistants”) lack proficiency in the subjects they teach, even at the most basic levels. In those circumstances, what they are doing is not teaching, but inculcating wrong information or none at all. Curriculum seems to have been dumbed down to accommodate teachers who probably would never have passed the subject at O level in times gone by – let alone A level or a degree.
I heard 3 parents being interviewed on the radio a little while ago, and god help me they were actually quite happy with the school! It would seem that the spirit of the Crusades is alive and well. Al-Madinah is certainly not the only failing school in the country. However, seasoned Ofsted report readers will I hope agree that we have never read such a ****ing report. Words like “dysfunctional”, “woefully inadequate” and “chaotic” do not normally feature in Ofsted reports, even when they are slating a school. The evidence is surely the 173 Free Schools that have, minor teething troubles aside, opened perfectly successfully – many opened by teams that have never opened schools before. That’s the reality. So a Muslim school (which it seems retains a great deal of parental backing) has come a cropper with serious questions to answer. It seems however, despite the odd teething troubles (buildings, Ofsted confusion over Montessori methods, etc.) here and there, that the other 173 Free Schools have opened successfully against a backdrop of ideological sniping from local authorities, the Labour Party and teaching Unions. So the Free School failure rate so far is 0.6%. Disarray for sure. State schools get appalling Ofsted reports as well. There will be good and bad state schools and good and bad free schools.


State schools get appalling Ofsted reports as well. There will be good and bad state schools and good and bad free schools. Muslim Girls School tops state school rankings in Blackburn. Yet, the only news we get is about a failing school in Derby. There are good Muslim schools and there are bad ones. However, let’s be blunt, negative stories about Muslims predominate. There is a reason for that. And no, it’s not because Muslims predominantly do negative things. While it’s great that a Muslim school toped some ranking that isn’t news – just like the many Christian and secular schools that top local rankings aren’t. There is a very obvious reason why there are more negative stories about Islam than positive ones. It is funny how negative Muslim stories are given front page and positive Muslim stories are packed away where you have to actively look for them. What about the Catholic church for example: White British men who abused boys and were just placed in different institutions when caught and protected by their superiors. Or is it because we are white that we don’t behave badly or are blameless for any bad behaviour?
What gives OFSTED the right, or indeed any Brit, to preach to minority groups about how they should live their lives? This is a cosmopolitan country; the Muslim community have the right to educate their children how they choose. Studying the Qur'an will certainly help towards these children becoming fully integrated citizens of the UK.


The Muslims don't want to integrate or abide by western law. Just because they don´t want to wear nude clothes or at least cloth that can show how big her breast are... so these people failed to integrate. Just because they don't like free sex, then these people failed again. What a dirty Bush mind you have!


The western “values” suggest equality and freedom for all that means society must allow religious freedom. The Christians and Jews have Church/ Jewish schools as well as kosher meat, yet when Muslims simply ask for the very same treatment, the Islamophobic secular right wing jump up and down screaming that somehow western values have been attacked. The Jews throughout the western world have their own religious courts. Christians have been enjoying the right to be married in Church. Muslims should have the same right to get married in Masajid
"Western" society is trying to dictate what people within one faith are supposed to act, what they should wear. Telling Muslims to go back east is stupid tell all Christians to back 2 Jerusalem then exactly no point everyone has the right to live in whatever country they choose. There are catholic schools which require a certain type of conduct even if the person is not catholic at that school. You have Sikh, Hindu and Islamic schools and they all instil good values in children in their own way and if someone has certain dietary needs then the school will adjust to that. I don't understand why everyone has to criticise everything that is going on within the religious circles right now.
Let’s think of all those bad things we are proposing:
- to make children multi-lingual.
- understand and accept the sanctity of marriage.
- Encouragement to take not even but one drop of alcohol and non-prescribed drugs.
- Encouragement not to judge or be judged on grounds of race and colour.
- Self discipline in sleeping, hygiene and diet patterns.
- Liberation of individuals from materialism and desires to live according to base instincts.
- a detailed understanding of the other two monotheistic religions.
Multiculturalism is not about separation, ghettoization or balkanisation. It is, instead, recognition of both diversity and the need for common ground, mutual respect, and cultural engagement. Muslims all over the world never opposed English as a language what they did was opposition of the Western culture and their system of education. In Pakistan, the medium of instruction is Urdu and English and the official language is both English and Urdu. Pakistan is going to send English teachers to Korea for the teaching of English language.
Speaking English does not promote integration into British, American and Australian societies, and broaden opportunities. English speaking Muslim youths are angry, frustrated and extremist, thanks to state schools with monolingual non-Muslim teachers and English language. English language is not only a lingua franca but also lingua frankensteinia. Human right are also covers linguistic right. Cultural and linguistic genocide are very common. British schooling is murdering community languages like Arabic, Urdu and others. English is today the world killer language. Linguistic genocide is a crime against humanity and British schooling is guilty of committing this crime. Language is not just a language. It defines one's culture, identity and consciousness. It defines how we think, communicate and express ourselves. The fact is the most South Asian Muslims have come to know Islam by way of Urdu, the children's alienation from the language that connects them the heritage of their parents and grandparents is disturbing. As a matter of fact, one has to get to know his mother tongue well if one is to master any other language.


The best solution of this problem is that those state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority should be designated as Muslim community schools under the management and control of Muslim educational Trusts. Newly arrived Muslim children can be educated in Muslim schools with Muslim teachers. They are not going to swamp state schools and they will not suffer from bullying and racism. They will feel at home with teachers speaking the same languages. This is a humane approach to the education of newly arrived children otherwise they will suffer educationally and emotionally like their predecessors. I hope Policy makers will look for alternatives to educate children of asylum seekers so that they could be easily accommodated and adjusted in the British society as equals.
Truth is always bitter. You must learn to listen to those who are culturally, linguistically and spiritually different. Education is should be more than providing pupils with the skills they need to get a job or enter university: we should not forget that we have a duty to pass on a body of knowledge through generations.
This leaves a majority of children from Muslim families with no choice but to attend state schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. Prince Charles, while visiting the first grant maintained Muslim school in north London, said that the pupils would be the future ambassadors of Islam. But what about thousands of others, who attend state schools, deemed to be "sink schools"? You better teach your children in your own schools and let migrant communities teach their children according to their needs and demands. British Establishment and society should concentrate on the evils of their own society and stop trying to change the way of life of Muslims. Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society, indulging in incivility, anti-social behaviour, drug and knife culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and abortion. In education, there should be a choice and at present it is denied to the Muslim community. In the late 80s and early 90s, when I floated the idea of Muslim community schools, I was declared a "school hijacker" by an editorial in the Newham Recorder newspaper. This clearly shows that the British media does not believe in choice and diversity in the field of education and has no respect for those who are different. Muslim schools, in spite of meager resources, have excelled to a further extent this year, with couple of schools achieving 100% A-C grades for five or more GCSEs. They beat well resourced state and independent schools in Birmingham and Hackney. Muslim schools are doing better because a majority of the teachers are Muslim. The pupils are not exposed to the pressures of racism, multiculturalism and bullying. 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.
Iftikhar Ahmad