Posted by Zoe Bremer All parents in this country have the option of educating their children privately (at home) and all children aged 14 and over have the right to leave school and switch to a college of adult or further education on a full- or part-time basis. --Previous Message--
on August 26, 2005, 11:02 am, in reply to "An Open Letter to OFSTED"
62.6.139.14
OFSTED is set up to inspect all schools, irrespective of the religion of the pupils there. Schools teaching Arabic and/or Urdu need to specify which language(s) the inspectors need to have. There are already inspectors employed to deal with Semitic studies so, although they may not be many in number, inspectors with Arabic (and Hebrew) do exist. There are plenty of speakers of Hindustani in our civil service. Perhaps not as many as there were 100 years ago but nevertheless a fair number so OFSTED should have its fair share.
: Established 1981
: London School of Islamics
: An Educational Trust
: 63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
: Email:
: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
: www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
: Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112
:
: An Open Letter to OFSTED
: There are over half a million Muslim
: children in British schools where
: bilingualism and Islamic Identity is
: totally neglected. In History
: lessons, a Muslim contribution to
: European learning and culture is
: never mentioned. British education
: system has failed to meet the needs
: and demands of the Muslim parents.
: Mr. Bell wrongly expressed concern
: about the number of Muslim schools
: failing to prepare their pupils as
: good citizens. OFSTED never
: criticized state schools for the
: mis-education and de-education of
: the Muslim children. According to
: the educational theory, there should
: be a positive co-relation between
: school and home; otherwise the
: education of the children would
: suffer. Learning a second language
: is the “alphabet of the 21st
: century.” People who lose their
: language lose their identity. The
: language a person speaks is part of
: his/her identity and culture. So
: learning languages means opposing
: racism, xenophobia and intolerance.
: The European Monitoring Centre on
: Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) Annual
: Report 2003/2004 provides that
: education system in most European
: States and United Kingdom is to fail
: migrants and minorities.
:
: Muslim schools can play a vibrant
: part in British society. Parents
: have no choice in educating their
: children. There is a choice in
: health; the government is prepared
: to pay private providers to treat
: NHS parents. Why not do the same in
: education? Muslims feel that British
: society at large is hostile to their
: way of life. In this atmosphere,
: there is a growing demand for Muslim
: schools. Feversham state funded
: Muslim school now leads in academic
: progress in only four years. It is a
: faith based school, underpinned by
: an Islamic ethos, which influences
: the quality of teaching and
: learning. Role models are important
: to motivate pupils to pursue their
: dreams. Such schools aid
: integration. Better exam results
: mean better jobs and a more
: integrated society. Majority of
: Muslim parents balk at the secular
: treatment of matters such as
: materialism, spirituality, sex,
: drugs and the treatment of other
: people and the environment. What
: would be wrong with having a state
: school with a Muslim ethos in areas
: where Muslim is in great majority.
: One can’t leave religious identity
: at the school gate. Lord Bertand
: Russell regards Western education as
: being intellectually harmful and
: makes a man stupid. Islamophobia is
: the consequence of the ignorance,
: the misinformation and the fears
: which result from it.
:
: Teacher is a role model. Bilingual
: Muslim children need bilingual
: Muslim teachers. OFSTED is not
: suitable to inspect and passed its
: judgments on Muslim children and
: Muslim schools. Bilingual Muslim
: educationists should be employed for
: the inspection of the Muslim schools
: who should not only be well versed
: in English, Arabic or Urdu but also
: in Sciences and humanities subjects.
: Iftikhar Ahmad
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