Great Britain: Fury over plan to let imams teach the Koran in state schools

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | March 25, 2008 | LAURA CLARK

[Stoat]

Fury over plan to let imams teach the Koran in state schools

By LAURA CLARK - More by this author » Last updated at 11:11am on 25th March 2008

 

The NUT says state schools must allow children to practise their faith

State schools must allow children to practise their faith by inviting in preachers such as imams and introducing prayer rooms and religious holidays, the country's biggest teaching union said yesterday.

 

They should make arrangements for pupils to be given "instruction" in their own religion during the normal school day and rights to pray and worship instead of attending regular assemblies, the National Union of Teachers said.

Schools should also allow different uniform rules, serve meals that meet religious requirements such as halal and kosher, plan holidays around festivals and special days and provide private prayer rooms.

The call comes as new research today shows the numbers attending mosques in England and Wales will outstrip Roman Catholic churchgoers by 2020.

Christian Research expects Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass to fall to 679,000 but Muslims at Friday prayer to increase to 683,000. The figures also suggest the number of Muslims at mosques will overtake Church of England members at Sunday services.

Under today's radical plan from teachers' leaders, designed to overhaul faith-based education, the NUT called on ministers to abandon the historic daily act of Christian worship in favour of "inclusive" school assemblies.

Existing faith schools should be stripped of rights to select pupils on the basis of the religion they practise to prevent them "discriminating" against others and fuelling community tensions, the document said.

The blueprint, from the most left-wing of the three main teaching unions, is aimed at undermining faith schools by encouraging religious parents to consider non-faith community schools instead.

NUT leaders argued that requiring schools to cater for all religions would limit demand for faith schools and bring children of different backgrounds together.

However the proposal, effectively creating a rival system to faith schools, sparked a furore last night over the extent to which schools should be required to accommodate different religious beliefs.

The Church of England, head teachers' leaders and campaigners for a secular education system condemned the plan.

The Muslim Council of Britain welcomed calls for imams to provide religious instruction in schools and moves to accommodate Islamic beliefs but said many parents would still prefer a faith school.

Tory MP Douglas Carswell, a member of the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee, said the plan amounted to "social engineering" and accused the NUT of attempting to impose an "aggressive multi-cultural agenda".

Launching the paper, NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said the dominance of England's Christian schools was "unjust and unsustainable" amid growing demands from Muslim families who want their own religious state schools.

There was now "every argument for the curriculum and staffing to respond positively both to the diversity of faiths within schools".

The plan meant "more than simply religious education" but "religious instruction", Mr Sinnott said.

"I believe that there will be real benefits to all our communities and youngsters if we could find space within schools for pupils who are Roman Catholics, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim to have space for more religious instruction in schools," he said.

"You could have imams coming in, you could have the local rabbi coming in and the local Roman Catholic priest.

"If there were opportunities where they all talked together to the youngsters, what a fantastic example that would be."

The policy paper went on to call for "reasonable accommodations" including "provision of adequate private prayer space within schools" and "recognising religious holidays which embrace all faiths".

It added: "Inclusive school assemblies must replace 'collective worship' with separate optional prayers and worship for those that require them."

Schools are still required by law to stage a daily act of worship of a mainly Christian character, although it is not widely enforced.

But a spokesman for the Church of England said: "Religious instruction belongs with the religious institutions, the churches, the mosques, the temples.

"It is for religions to teach their faith to people; it is for schools to teach about religion."

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "This plan could compound the problem if the people coming into schools were offering extreme views.

"How would you have any control over what was being taught in your school?"

The NUT document was formally adopted by delegates at the union's annual conference in Manchester yesterday but there was ignorance among some as to its content.

A scheduled debate on faith schools, on a motion calling for an entirely secular education system, will no longer take place due to time constraints.

Mr Carswell said it ran against the grain of attempts to tackle segregation by promoting common values.

"This is social engineering. Ideologues in the NUT whose ideas belong to the 1960s and 1970s want to impose an aggressively multi-cultural agenda.

"In case the NUT hasn't heard, multi-culturalism is generally regarded as a failure and even central government is abandoning it."

About 7,000 state schools in England are faith schools - roughly one in three of the total - educating 1.7 million pupils.

The large majority are either Church of England or Roman Catholic schools which have control over their own admissions arrangements.

A spokesman for the Department for Children said: "There is no policy to increase the number of faith schools – it is up to local communities to decide the kind of schools they want."

[Stoat]

Also:

Preachers ‘should visit all schools’ - Times Online

 

Preachers ‘should visit all schools’

 

Alexandra Frean, Education Editor

 

Imams, rabbis, priests and preachers from other faiths could be invited into state schools to provide religious instruction to pupils who want it, under controversial reforms to faith education.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is also recommending that schools provide “private prayer space” for pupils of all faiths, recognise the holy days of world religions, allow school uniforms and food to reflect “religious requirements” and turn the daily act of a worship in schools into “inclusive school assemblies”.

The radical proposals represent a calculated gamble by the union to come up with a policy that will both satisfy growing demands from Muslims and other faith groups for an increased number of religious state schools, and avoid what it regards as the negative impact of educating children from different religions in separate schools.

 

 

Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said that the spread of faith schools threatened to undermine community relations. “There will be real benefits to all our communities and youngsters if we could find space within schools for pupils who are Roman Catholics, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, Sikh and Muslim to have space for more religious instruction in schools,” he said.

He made it clear that he was proposing that schools offer religious instruction in particular faiths, rather than the kind of unbiased teaching about religions found in RE lessons. About 7,000 state schools in England are faith schools – roughly one in three of the total – educating 1.7 million pupils. The majority are either Church of England or Roman Catholic schools – and only a tiny minority cater for other faiths.

The NUT policy document, In Good Faith, suggests that local authorities should take control of state school admissions, and yet they should “neither privilege or discriminate against children on the basis of the beliefs or practices of their parents”.

It was adopted formally by delegates at the NUT’s annual conference in Manchester, although many of the 2,000 members present appeared unaware of its contents. Several were dismayed at the suggestion that religious instruction should be provided in school.

One delegate from the West Midlands said: “Religious instruction should take place in churches or mosques, not in school.” Religious and education leaders gave the proposals a mixed welcome.

Tahir Alam, of the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the suggestion that imams should be invited into schools to provide religious instruction and the suggestion that school uniform policies should allow for “religious requirements”. He said that he was dealing with a case of an A-level student who had grown a beard for religious reasons and had been excluded from school for breaching uniform policy.

But John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, questioned the feasibility of monitoring religious instruction delivered by outside preachers. “I would have thought this plan could compound the problem if the people coming into schools were offering extreme views,” he said.

[Always Right]

NUT - at least the organization is properly named.

[Retired Greyhound]

OMG! Only because if it is Muslims.

[DonaldC]

Incredible.

[weegee]

Is this under the guise of a “new” openness to “all” religions to mask a push to get Islam into schools?

Or has such study and such visits by religious figures always been there?

[Stoat]

FYI

[Slapshot68]

So when will the Islamic crescent be emblazoned on the Union Jack?

[DonaldC]

LOL... NUT= National Union of Teachers. I like that acronym.

[polymuser]

Time for Christian kids to demand the same in American schools.

[blam]

WHITES FLEEING BRITAIN

"240,000 Britons in Mass Evacuation Every Year"

[Wavrnr10]

Let them practice their religion away from the state run schools just like everyone else does. You don’t see Catholic’s practicing religion in state schools. If they want it that way let CAIR or any of the many other terrorist funds pay for it and make them go to seperate schools to learn it.

[Kakaze]

The mission isn't disguised anymore, the liberals that hate everything about the west and their personal guilt at living well are determined to kill our society.

I don't think these people are stupid. I do think they are mentally ill, they have to know that the cult they are pushing will destroy them first. Islam will single them out and kill them.

They are cowards, consumed by their personal hate and their hatred of anyone happy, that they will work to bring about the destruction of us all.

[blam]

More Demands From Islam

[Emperor Palpatine]

This is about the only thing that satanic evil book called the Koran is good for....

[Stoat]

Is this under the guise of a “new” openness to “all” religions to mask a push to get Islam into schools?

Or has such study and such visits by religious figures always been there?

The text of the articles as well as the apoplectic outrage evidenced by many posting comments at the original article pages suggest that this is a radical new plan, and many feel that this is 'all about Islam' despite the 'all-inclusive' language used by the NUT.

Is this under the guise of a “new” openness to “all” religions to mask a push to get Islam into schools?

Or has such study and such visits by religious figures always been there?

[Emperor Palpatine]

This guy is brilliant.

Maybe there’s hope for England after all if there’s more like him.

[weegee]

The Union Jack will have new colors:

Red, Green, Black, and White.

[Stoat]

Excellent, thanks very much for posting.

I trust you've seen this one as well?

YouTube - Appeasing Islam

Mr. Condell has several more essential videos at YouTube, all worth the time of thoughtful people.

He certainly is brave, broadcasting his own image as well as (possibly) his true name. 

Considering the legendary congeniality of the followers of the Religion of Peace, I sincerely hope that he lives in a bank vault and has a squad of magnificently well-trained and superbly armed bodyguards who follow him everywhere.  The typical lifespan of those who dare to speak the truth about Islam makes me hope that he has all of his affairs in order. 

[visualops]

wow