Religion
Scotland: Focus - State funding for Muslim schools sparks debate
"Many Muslims want some congruity between their home life and school life"
Glasgow, 13 July (AKI) – By Filippo Trevisan - Recent remarks by a spokesman for Scottish education secretary Fiona Hyslop supporting state-funded Muslim schools has sparked a fresh debate in Scotland over the question. Islamic schools raise a series of issues relating to equal opportunities, integration and school autonomy, the Youth Counselling Services Agency (YCSA)'s chief executive Anwari Din told Adnkronos International (AKI).
"It certainly is an issue of granting equal opportunities for all, but we must also be aware of the risk of such schools becoming divisive,” Din told AKI.
“However, if people want these schools, then the provision of public funding might constitute an important form of check on their curriculums,” she added.
The Scottish government's statements earlier this week backing state-funding for Islamic schools follow electoral pledges by the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) to extend the right to denominational education to all faiths, including Scotland's 75,000 Muslims. Most are of Pakistani origin and live in the greater Glasgow area.
During a television debate last weekend, Scotland's deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon had said that, although she was “not persuaded” that such schools are the best way forward, she was happy for a pilot project to be run.
Besides the question of whether faith schools actually enhance integration or promote sectarianism, a major bone of contention, both between political parties and Muslim groups themselves, is the actual level of demand for Muslim schools in Scotland.
Whilst campaigners and the SNP sustain that there is tangible demand from the country's Muslim communities for state-funded Muslim schools, the opposition says that the demand levels do not justify their establishment.
Din said she was “not at all convinced that the majority of Scottish Muslims would want to send their children to an Islamic school.”
Around 50,000 Scottish Muslims live in the greater Glasgow area. Approached by AKI, Glasgow City Council Education Department was tight-lipped over the issue of state-funded Muslim schools. "There have been no requests to set up any such school in the area, and it would therefore seem inappropriate to comment on that matter,” it said.
Scotland's devolved government has since 1998 had responsibility for education in the country, as well as health, justice and agriculture.
Scotland’s only-ever Islamic school, the Imam Muhammad Zakariya Boarding School for girls of Dundee was forced to close in early 2006 due to a lack of pupils. The school’s closure followed a heated debate over the results of two different inspections in 2004 and 2005, which highlighted the poor quality of its teaching and its curriculum's failure to satisfy the standards required by the Scottish Education Department.
Campaigners argue that this is an example of how the only way forward for the provision of equal opportunities in denominational education would be publicly funded Muslim schools.
"Numerous teachers say […] they would be ready to teach in a Muslim school, but only if it had the safeguard of being within the state sector,” said Osama Saeed, historic leader of the campaign to establish state-funded Islamic schools in Scotland and spokesperson for the Scottish branch of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Claiming there would be a high level of demand for Muslim schools in Scotland, Saeed praised the government’s position. "Many Muslims want some congruity between their home life and school life," he added
Of 2,769 state-funded schools in Scotland, 2,363 are non-denominational, 401 are Roman Catholic, four are Episcopalian and one is Jewish. In the rest of the UK, there is no Muslim school in Northern Ireland and only a handful of Islamic schools receive partial state-funding in England and Wales.
Earlier during the year, SNP leader and current first minister Alex Salmond had said: "If there is sustainable demand from within the community, […] this is the best way forward on this issue” - a major shift in comparison to the beliefs of the previous Labour/Liberal-Democrat administration, which had always opposed the possibility of public funding for Muslim denominational schools.
"It certainly is an issue of granting equal opportunities for all, but we must also be aware of the risk of such schools becoming divisive,” Din told AKI.
“However, if people want these schools, then the provision of public funding might constitute an important form of check on their curriculums,” she added.
The Scottish government's statements earlier this week backing state-funding for Islamic schools follow electoral pledges by the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) to extend the right to denominational education to all faiths, including Scotland's 75,000 Muslims. Most are of Pakistani origin and live in the greater Glasgow area.
During a television debate last weekend, Scotland's deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon had said that, although she was “not persuaded” that such schools are the best way forward, she was happy for a pilot project to be run.
Besides the question of whether faith schools actually enhance integration or promote sectarianism, a major bone of contention, both between political parties and Muslim groups themselves, is the actual level of demand for Muslim schools in Scotland.
Whilst campaigners and the SNP sustain that there is tangible demand from the country's Muslim communities for state-funded Muslim schools, the opposition says that the demand levels do not justify their establishment.
Din said she was “not at all convinced that the majority of Scottish Muslims would want to send their children to an Islamic school.”
Around 50,000 Scottish Muslims live in the greater Glasgow area. Approached by AKI, Glasgow City Council Education Department was tight-lipped over the issue of state-funded Muslim schools. "There have been no requests to set up any such school in the area, and it would therefore seem inappropriate to comment on that matter,” it said.
Scotland's devolved government has since 1998 had responsibility for education in the country, as well as health, justice and agriculture.
Scotland’s only-ever Islamic school, the Imam Muhammad Zakariya Boarding School for girls of Dundee was forced to close in early 2006 due to a lack of pupils. The school’s closure followed a heated debate over the results of two different inspections in 2004 and 2005, which highlighted the poor quality of its teaching and its curriculum's failure to satisfy the standards required by the Scottish Education Department.
Campaigners argue that this is an example of how the only way forward for the provision of equal opportunities in denominational education would be publicly funded Muslim schools.
"Numerous teachers say […] they would be ready to teach in a Muslim school, but only if it had the safeguard of being within the state sector,” said Osama Saeed, historic leader of the campaign to establish state-funded Islamic schools in Scotland and spokesperson for the Scottish branch of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Claiming there would be a high level of demand for Muslim schools in Scotland, Saeed praised the government’s position. "Many Muslims want some congruity between their home life and school life," he added
Of 2,769 state-funded schools in Scotland, 2,363 are non-denominational, 401 are Roman Catholic, four are Episcopalian and one is Jewish. In the rest of the UK, there is no Muslim school in Northern Ireland and only a handful of Islamic schools receive partial state-funding in England and Wales.
Earlier during the year, SNP leader and current first minister Alex Salmond had said: "If there is sustainable demand from within the community, […] this is the best way forward on this issue” - a major shift in comparison to the beliefs of the previous Labour/Liberal-Democrat administration, which had always opposed the possibility of public funding for Muslim denominational schools.
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