Bilingual Muslims children have a right, as much as any other faith group, to be taught their culture, languages and faith alongside a mainstream curriculum. More faith schools will be opened under sweeping reforms of the education system in England. There is a dire need for the growth of state funded Muslim schools to meet the growing needs and demands of the Muslim parents and children. Now the time has come that parents and community should take over the running of their local schools. Parent-run schools will give the diversity, the choice and the competition that the wealthy have in the private sector. Parents can perform a better job than the Local Authority because parents have a genuine vested interest. The Local Authority simply cannot be trusted.

The British Government is planning to make it easier to schools to “opt out” from the Local Authorities. Muslim children in state schools feel isolated and confused about who they are. This can cause dissatisfaction and lead them into criminality, and the lack of a true understanding of Islam can ultimately make them more susceptible to the teachings of fundamentalists like Christians during the middle ages and Jews in recent times in Palestine. Fundamentalism is nothing to do with Islam and Muslim; you are either a Muslim or a non-Muslim.

There are hundreds of state primary and secondary schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be opted out to become Muslim Academies. This mean the Muslim children will get a decent education. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. Muslim schools give young people confidence in who they are and an understanding of Islam’s teaching of tolerance and respect which prepares them for a positive and fulfilling role in society. Muslim schools are attractive to Muslim parents because they have better discipline and teaching Islamic values. Children like discipline, structure and boundaries. Bilingual Muslim children need Bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, who understand their needs and demands.

None of the British Muslims convicted following the riots in Bradford and Oldham in 2001 or any of those linked to the London bombings had been to Islamic schools. An American Think Tank studied the educational back ground of 300 Jihadists; none of them were educated in Pakistani Madrasas. They were all Western educated by non-Muslim teachers. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. A Cambridge University study found that single-sex classes could make a big difference for boys. They perform better in single-sex classes. The research is promising because male students in the study saw noticeable gains in the grades. The study confirms the Islamic notion that academic achievement is better in single-sex classes.
Iftikhar Ahmad
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

The comment made by Katharina is ridiculous. It shows how much people buy into what the media has to say. I do not know one girl who is being forced to wear the veil. I know of plenty of muslim girls who DON'T wear the veil, though in Islam they are suppose too. I have been wearing the scarf since I was twelve years old, along with many of my muslim friends, and we had to fight prejudices from teachers, students, and random people on the streets. But did we stop wearing the scarf? NO. Because it is our rights as muslims to wear the scarf! I am an American born of European decent who use to be christian, so I know how it is both ways and trust me Islam is the only true way. But it is obvious from what Katharina has written that she is an ignorant BIGOT. You should google how many christians and jews wear the scarf, and where IN THE BIBLE AND TORAH it says that women MUST wear the scarf. I just hope people reading this understand its a woman's choice- to be looked at for her personality rather than her body. Any man will know what I'm talking about. And if they pretend they don't, just imagine what men are thinking of your wives, daughters, sisters and mothers.

There should be total ban on chidren before 18/adults, on being imposed with the veil. I don't understand how the West can accept such Child-SLAVERY! Further, how can special treatment be given to Muslims and not to others? The veil is about ENSLAVING women/girls (good enough only to breed especially male Islamic warriors and as sexual slaves) under savage and primitive Arabic culture, where Islam was created by the Arabic Pedophile rapist, robber, slave-owner (including sexual slaves such as young Jewish captive girls, and mass murderer of the Jews, Mohammed. Fundamentally, Mohammed created Islam to justify his and his Arabic culture's savagery, primitivism and barbarism.