Muslim Private Schools targeted
by Ofsted Inspectors, says Lord Ahmed
Dr. Mozammel Haque
Six Muslim schools in London’s Tower Hamlets region have recently been
accused of exposing their pupils to ‘serious risk of extremist influences and
radicalisation’, Sir Michael Milshaw says.
Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham wrote in his article, “Six Muslim schools
in London’s Tower Hamlets region have recently been accused of exposing their
pupils to ‘serious risk of ‘extremist influences and radicalisation’, Sir.
Michael Wilshaw says.”
Lord Ahmed also mentioned about the future of these schools. These
primary and secondary schools will be closed very soon. Lord Ahmed said, “The
head of Ofsted and Chief Inspector of Schools claims these independent
institutions focus far too heavily on Islamic teaching, ignoring the core
modules of the National Curriculum and under preparing their students for a
life in modern Britain. Although many staff within these schools called Ofsted’s
accusations ‘unprofessional’, the Education Secretary has threatened that
unless they alter their academic focus, these primary and secondary schools – many
of whom have since lost their ‘outstanding’ academic status previously awarded
by Ofsted –will be closed.”
Tracing the background of the fate of independent Muslim institutions,
Lord Ahmed went back to the Birmingham schools ‘Trojan Horse’ incident in the
first quarter of this year. Lord Ahmed mentioned, “This investigation into
independent Muslim institutions comes in the wake of the Birmingham schools ‘Trojan
Horse’ incident of earlier this year, where five Muslim schools were accused of
encouraging a ‘hard-line Islamist takeover’ and subjected to unannounced inspection
by Ofsted.”
“In a similar case, Wilshaw claims that the schools in Tower Hamlets
focus solely on Islamist teachings, ignoring subjects such as art, music and
drama and as such, exposing their vulnerable pupils to ‘extremist influences
and radicalization”, said Lord Ahmed.
According to Lord Ahmed, to suggest that Muslim institutions
specializing in Islamic teachings are radical and extremist is sweeping
misjudgment. Lord Ahmed said, “This is simply not the case, however, and to
suggest that Muslim institutions specializing in Islamic teachings are radical and
extremist is moreover, a sweeping misjudgment; one that is unfortunately no
doubt shaped by the influx of information concerning certain terrorist organizations
ISIS and Boko Haram within our media.”
Referring about the performances and achievements of the Muslim
institutions, Lord Ahmed mentioned, “In many instances Muslim schools have
raised the standard for pupils within the community, creating a safe and
approachable environment for families who care not only about their children’s
education, but their religious beliefs and continuation of cultural practices
and morals.”
“Since 2004 the national average of Muslims achieving a GCSE A*- C grade
has increased drastically with the development of these schools, with pass rate
figures rising from 25-30% for both boys and girls in parts of England, to 100%
in particular Islamic institutions. The Brondesbury College for Boys in Brent is
one such example, whose GCSE pass rates are 46% higher than England’s national
average,” mentioned Lord Ahmed.
Speaking about how these Muslim institutions provide Britain with young
educated Muslim who will in turn contribute towards Britain in primary fields
of work, Lord Ahmed mentioned, “Muslim Schools are therefore setting the
standards of all-round excellence and nurturing a new generation of high
achievers throughout the country; allowing their pupils to excel in subjects
beyond the schools’ Islamic focus. The number of Muslim schools, along with
their successful pass rates, thus provide Britain with young educated Muslims,
who will in turn, be in a better position to contribute towards Britain in
primary fields of work.”
Lord Ahmed mentioned about those six Muslim schools that were inspected
and what they were accused of: He said, “The Mazahirul Uloom (Secondary
School), was accused of focusing solely on Islamic themes. Jamiatul Ummah (Secondary
School) was accused of not providing pupils with a broad and balanced
curriculum. Ebrahim Academy (Secondary School) was accused of not preparing
students for modern British life and their curriculum was said to be too
narrow.”
“London East Academy (Secondary School), was accused of not having a
broad and balanced curriculum and their students were accused of not having a
sufficient understanding of how other people live in Britain and abroad. This
school was also accused of not keeping their children safe and most of the
library books are in Arabic. Al Mizan (Primary School) was accused of only
teaching Islam in religious studies and not keeping children safe due to the
public having open access to the school. East London Islamic (Primary School) was
accused of focusing a majority of their lessons on Islamic or Arabic Studies,”
said Lord Ahmed.
Lord Ahmed thinks these primary and secondary schools were “unfairly
rated by Ofsted. He said, “These primary and secondary schools have thus all
been unfairly rated by Ofsted.”
Lord Ahmed raised question why these private schools would not have the
same privilege and freedom to develop their own curriculum and ethos as
government encourages community run schools to do that. Lord Ahmed said, “As
the government encourages community-run schools to have more freedom to develop
their own curriculum and ethos, why shouldn’t private schools such as these have
the same privilege? The academic focus of these Muslim institutions is in no
way different from the existing Christian, Jewish and other faith schools that
exist around the country who focus heavily upon their culture, religion and ethical
values, but do not neglect the National Curriculum.”
Lord Ahmed also maintained that the pupils of these schools are not “at
risks of extremism and radicalization” and he thought that “Ofsted’s chief
inspector has overreacted” on the recent reporting of the six Muslim private
schools. Lord Ahmed mentioned, “By creating an environment in which parents
feel their children are safe, a child can develop strong links between what is
taught at home and what is taught at school, thus enhancing their learning, in
accordance with their parents’ wishes. Though a faith focus exists in many
other institutions, here it has been misconstrued as extreme and radical, when
simply it is just put in place to teach the fundamentals of the specific
religion. Pupils are not “at risk of extremism and radicalisation”, and it
seems as though Ofsted’s chief inspector has overreacted on the recent
reporting of the six Muslim private schools.”
Lord Ahmed also said, “Many say that for too long the United Kingdom has
allowed religious communities to “enforce their own values and traditions” on
children. Is this so wrong? These religious communities include parents, do
they not have a say in how to bring up their own children anymore? Why is it so
necessary to get involved with the personal lives of people so much, what
happened to freedom of choice?”
Lord Ahmed pointed out about the worst discrimination faced by Muslims
found in a recent research by Dr Nabil Khattab and Professor Ron Johnston, from
the University of Bristol. Lord Ahmed said, “This report has emerged at the
same time as the recent research by Dr Nabil Khattab and Professor Ron
Johnston, from the University of Bristol, which finds that Muslims experience
the worst discrimination of any other minority group in job prospects in the
UK, with Muslim men up to 76%, and Muslim women up to 65% less likely to gain
employment than their white counterparts of the same age with the same
qualifications.”
Lord Ahmed also maintained, “Combined with the recent downgrading of
several Muslim schools, this evidence suggests an ongoing and growing
nervousness about Islam in the UK, raising further worrying questions about
Islamophobia amongst the public.”
Lord Ahmed concluded by saying, “Furthermore, if we look at the subjects
offered by each of the six accused Muslim private schools, we notice that they
do offer a variety of subjects which are not all solely based on Islamic
teachings. Therefore the argument about not providing a broad and balanced
curriculum is inaccurate.”
At the end, a Links for Curriculum’s of each school mentioned:
Some examples are given below:
Mazahirul Uloom – courses (http://mul.org.uk/courses.asp)
Alhamdullilah, we are now able to offer a greater selection
of GCSE Courses than ever before:
The following subjects are
taught leading to a Full GCSE:
Arabic Language
English Literature
Science (triple award for our top students)
Information Communication Technology
History
RE
In addition we teach the following
National CURRICULUM
Subjects:
Subjects:
Citizenship
Physical Education (Football, Cricket, Table Tennis, Athletics)
Art
We also have a full
Traditional CURRICULUM including:
including:
Tahfeez; Tajweed; Aqaaid; Fiqh; Hadeeth; Seerah and
Taareekh and Nasheeds
Jamiatul Ummah – curriculum
Curriculum
This page gives an overview of
the school CURRICULUM, and connects it to GCSE
subjects.
, and connects it to GCSE
subjects.
Subjects Offered
|
Brief Description
|
GCSE Entry
|
Hifzul Qur'an
|
Memorising the whole Qrr'an
for Hifz students
|
No
|
Qur'anic SCIENCES
|
Memorising the last para/Juz
and other selective suras, with Tajweed Recitation and meaning
|
No
|
Sunnah
|
Selective hadith in Arabic
text, with meaning, explanation and APPLICATIONS
to our practical life, and
principles of Hadith |
All these subjects come under
Edexel syllabus as a full COURSE
- Islamic Studies |
Seerah/Islamic History
|
Short biographies of earlier
prophets, extensive biography of the last prophet, short biographies of the
companions, heroes and contemporary scholars of Islam
|
|
Aqeeda
|
Aqeeda of Ahl-Sunnah wal
Jamah, based on al-Fiqh al-Akbar by Imam Abu Hanifa and Sharh Aqidah
al-Tahawiyyah by Imam Tahawi
|
|
Comparative Religion
|
Discussion and comparison of
the major living religions of the world
|
|
Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh
|
Major issues of Fiqh,
including those that are faced by modern Muslims in the West
|
|
Arabic Language
|
A combined course in Qur'anic
and modern (Standard) Arabic
|
Yes
|
Citizenship
|
Includes ethics, Akhlaq-Adab,
developing positive social behavious and peaceful living in a multi-cultural
society
|
To be confirmed
|
Writing ESSAYS
, reading comprehension, poetry |
Yes
|
|
English Literature
|
Novels, short stories, poems,
etc
|
Yes
|
SCIENCE
(Double Award) |
Biology, CHEMISTRY
and Physis |
Yes
|
Number, Algebra, Handling
data, Space and Shape, etc
|
Yes
|
|
Information Communication
Technology (ICT)
|
DATABASE
Software, Spreadsheet, Graphics
software, Web Design, etc., |
Yes
|
Physical Education (PE)
|
FITNESS
, Football, Cricket, Kayaking,
Climbing, etc., |
Yes
|
Bengali
|
Reading, writing and speaking
|
Yes
|
Somali
|
This subject in under
consideration in the near future
|
To be confirmed
|
Urdu
|
This subject in under
consideration in the near future
|
To be confirmed
|
A pupil can choose the Hifz
section where a considerable amount of time is given to memorizing the Qur'an
in addition to studying the National
Curriculum subjects. Since the task of memorizing the whole Qur'an normally
requires extra time and effort, pupils
from the Hifz section do not attend some of the optional subjects.
Ebrahim College – Courses
Al-Mizan School Secondary – Curriculum
Islamic Sciences
Qur’an and Tajweed
Second list item
Hadith; Arabic Language; Aqeedah; Fiqh; Islamic history; Seerah;
IGCSE Islamiyat and Tafseer
National
Curriculum
English (Language and Literature)
Science (Chemistry, Biology and
Physics)
Information and Communication
Technology (ICT)
Humanities (Geography, History
& Social studies)
Citizenship, PSHE, Physical
Education
Art and Cultural Studies,
Religious Studies
History
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