Islam21c Articulating Islam in the 21st Century
Originally posted on The Guardian – read here
Originally posted on The Guardian – read here
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There are currently 6,844 state faith schools – a few more than in early 2010, before the coalition government came to office, when there were 6,832. Of these, 4,601 are Church of England, 1,986 Roman Catholic, 26 Methodist, 152 of other Christian faiths, 48 Jewish, 18 Muslim and eight Sikh; and 763 of these faith schools are academies or free schools.
And what about the tax payers who WANT faith schools? Do they not count? Just because a majority of taxpayers might disagree with faith schools doesn’t mean that the minority who do want them should be ignored and their wishes disregarded. That simply isn’t fair. As a Muslim I want my children to have the benefit of a Islam-centred education; however I cannot afford a private education. Why must my children be forced to have a certain type of (secular) education because of this? State-run schools should provide for everybody, the majority and the minority. Parental choice is a cornerstone of our education system; families and parents having a school which has a faith-based ethos is one of the choices they opt for, and that should be available.” It infuriates me that the Guardian is suggesting that the atheist section of society should be allowed to force their views and systems on the religious sections of society. Why should one group’s opinion take precedence? Faith schools make educational provision which would otherwise have to be met by the state. It is reasonable to expect the state to contribute towards their running costs.
Actually, the evidence to support this “Trojan Horse” thing is sketchy at best. From the perspective of most people who have “concerns” about it, it is a rumour – if there is any evidence beyond the meme they saw on Facebook, they haven’t seen any of it. All the press reporting of Trojan Horse has been reporting of “concerns” – to my knowledge, the press have made no effort to verify whether those “concerns” are valid before telling everyone how widespread they are and tacitly implying that anyone who doesn’t share them probably shouldn’t be trusted with YOUR children. Yet people queue up for these schools. The call to end faith schools is short sighted. These schools produce above average results on the whole and are important for the economy of this country.
IA
London School of Islamics Trust