Iftikhar
07-08-2004, 10:34 AM
London School of Islamics
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
E-mail: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667
Why State Funded Muslim Schools
British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s.
A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Certain concepts are embedded in words that do not translate. There are repertoires of phrases which exist in Arabic or Urdu because there is no English equivalent. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their home. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language along side their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.
Taxpayers’ money spent on schools should be handed to parents as vouchers to be used for their children’s education as they wished. Funds to be given to parents to set up their own schools. Lady Uddin argues strongly for the benefits of faith-based schooling, rejecting claims made in reports on the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford that polarised schooling contributed to community division. Culturally separate groups, communities and institutions do not have to be the causes of social instability. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools to be managed and controlled by Muslim Educational Trust and Charities.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Dress Code
A Muslim girl could not attend her school for the last two years because she could not wear the Jilbab banned by her school. Jilbab is considered to be a health and safety hazard and is likely to lead to an unhealthy competition among its pupils to dress more Islamically. The High Court upheld the decision of the school which is worrying and objectionable in the opinion of the MCB. The ruling is “a regrettable limitation of personal freedom”, according to the Daily Telegraph. The school has 90% Muslim girls and a western educated Muslim head teacher who had imposed the ban to prevent students from falling prey to extremist groups. She wanted to protect other Muslim pupils from fundamentalists. It is a multi-cultural and multi-faith secular school which is not suitable for bilingual Muslim girls. They need Muslim community school with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. In the opinion of Fiona MacTaggert MP, the native teachers do not have the linguistic skills or relevant social and theological know-how to tackle the issues of the Muslim pupils in secular state schools.
State funded Muslim school with Muslim teachers is a proper place for Muslim children than a secular multi-faith school. The case should not have gone to court in the first place. The school should have tolerated what she wears as long as it is the same colour as the school uniform and the whole matter should have been sorted out as a community matter. School has accommodated other forms of Islamic dress. Jilbab is acceptable in other British schools and it is the uniform of Feversham College Bradford, the first state funded Muslim school. The school’s arguments are bogus and reminiscent of the arguments that used to be put forward prior to 1997 to prevent Islamic schools from gaining state funded status. Respect and tolerance of Muslims is essential for positive community cohesion.
State funded Muslim schools are not divisive; they are beacons of excellence academically, spiritually and morally. They provide a powerful structure for students to pursue their education. Curriculum infused with Islamic teaching allows students to explore their beliefs and cultural backgrounds more fully, an opportunity they would not have in a multi-faith state school. A deeper exploration of Islamic beliefs and history produces young Muslims who are willing and able to serve as responsible and knowledgeable ambassadors of Islam in the British multicultural society. State schools LEAs and the DFES are not in a position to educate Muslim pupils because they do not have enough bilingual Muslim teachers, governors and policy makers. Islam is a maker of identity and belonging rather than a system of belief.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Crime against Humanity
To deprive a Muslim child from his/her culture and language is a crime against Humanity. British education system is guilty of such crime for the last 50 years. The first wave of Muslims arrived with three or four languages including English but the next generation born and educated by native teachers has been subject to learn English in local accents, making them mis-fit not only for the British society at large but also for the whole world. A Muslim is the citizen of this small global village. On top of that they have been discouraged to learn Arabic and Urdu, making them cut off from their cultural roots. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. They are unable to have a good communication with their parents and elders. All of them suffer from Identity Crises resulting in mental, emotional and social problems. We have lost three generations and fourth one is in the process of loosing its linguistic, Religious and cultural Identity. Respect and tolerance of different religions, cultures and languages are essential for positive community cohesion.
The solution of all those problems is state funded Muslim schools. Muslim parents should be given educational vouchers so that they could send their children to private Muslim schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools, under the control of Muslim Educational Trusts or Charities. Teacher is a role model. Bilingual Muslim teachers are required to teach bilingual Muslim pupils right from Nursery level.
The first wave of Muslims used English as an economic language and still it is meant for earning bread and butter and not used as a social and emotional language. English could become social and emotional language if Muslims start moving in and around pubs, night clubs and frequently changing partners. This is what the British establishment want them to do in order to become the integral part of the British society. Now Muslim Imams will need to show a basic command of spoken English before being allowed to enter the country to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Muslim community. The Imams from the sub-continent are already well versed in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian on top of their mother tongue, Punjabi, Bengali or Gujrati and other regional languages. Now they have to learn English as an extra burden. Urdu is a social and emotional language of the Muslims from the sub-continent and Arabic is their religious language. They are in a better position to serve the Muslim community in Arabic and Urdu so that they could feel at home in an alien British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Education and Language
A comprehensive school that pioneered the teaching of pupils in their home language in maths and sciences has won the approval of school inspectors. According to OFSTED, good improvement has been made and the school no longer has the serious weaknesses. Turkish and Somali pupils are taught lessons in their mother tongues until they have mastered English well enough to learn through that medium. The said school must have employed Turkish and Somali teachers well versed in their own languages and English. The pupils felt at home with their own teachers who could understand their needs and demands. They developed confidence crucial for mental, emotional and personality development. There are thousands of bilingual children from the sub-continent. Majority of them are at the bottom. They need to be educated bilingualy.
The Muslim community has been demanding to set up state funded Muslim schools to raise the standard of their children. State schools have dislocated Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. State education system is leaving Muslims in a cultural limbo. By the age of 16, they neither belong to Muslim community nor belong to host community. Only state funded Muslim schools can play a vibrant part in British society. Few Muslim schools with Muslim teachers are doing a better job to raise the standard of education but majority of Muslim pupils is in state schools leaving with low grades and without Islamic Identity. LEA’s are proposing race quotas in schools inorder to disperse Muslim pupils. In my opinion it is not going to work. It will fail just like the policy of busing children from different areas in the 70s. It will not help to raise the standard of education of the Muslim pupils. It will not help to develop better race relation. The Muslim pupils will be victims of racism and bullying if the proposal of race quota is implemented.
In my opinion, those state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority should be designated as Muslim community schools under the management of Muslim educational Trust and Charities. They are in a better position to understand the needs and demands of the Muslim pupils. Voucher system may be introduced to give choice to the parents to choose a school. Qualified bilingual Muslim teachers from abroad should be recruited to teach bilingual Muslim children. They will be able to teach community languages and Islamic studies so that the children do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots. British educated Muslim teachers could teach English language, literature and poetry. Muslim children need to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Crime against Humanity
To deprive a Muslim child from his/her culture and language is a crime against Humanity. British education system is guilty of such crime for the last 50 years. The first wave of Muslims arrived with three or four languages including English but the next generation born and educated by native teachers has been subject to learn English in local accents, making them mis-fit not only for the British society at large but also for the whole world. A Muslim is the citizen of this small global village. On top of that they have been discouraged to learn Arabic and Urdu, making them cut off from their cultural roots. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. They are unable to have a good communication with their parents and elders. All of them suffer from Identity Crises resulting in mental, emotional and social problems. We have lost three generations and fourth one is in the process of loosing its linguistic, Religious and cultural Identity. Respect and tolerance of different religions, cultures and languages are essential for positive community cohesion.
The solution of all those problems is state funded Muslim schools. Muslim parents should be given educational vouchers so that they could send their children to private Muslim schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools, under the control of Muslim Educational Trusts or Charities. Teacher is a role model. Bilingual Muslim teachers are required to teach bilingual Muslim pupils right from Nursery level.
The first wave of Muslims used English as an economic language and still it is meant for earning bread and butter and not used as a social and emotional language. English could become social and emotional language if Muslims start moving in and around pubs, night clubs and frequently changing partners. This is what the British establishment want them to do in order to become the integral part of the British society. Now Muslim Imams will need to show a basic command of spoken English before being allowed to enter the country to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Muslim community. The Imams from the sub-continent are already well versed in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian on top of their mother tongue, Punjabi, Bengali or Gujrati and other regional languages. Now they have to learn English as an extra burden. Urdu is a social and emotional language of the Muslims from the sub-continent and Arabic is their religious language. They are in a better position to serve the Muslim community in Arabic and Urdu so that they could feel at home in an alien British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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
Faith-based Schools
The education secretary angers secular groups by pledging £500m to rebuild faith-based schools, including only two Muslim schools. There are over half a million Muslim children in British schools where bilingualism and Islamic Identity is totally neglected. In history lessons, Muslim contributions to European learning and culture are never mentioned. Only three percent of Muslim children are in Muslim schools.
Islam does not believe in integration but encourages participation and feel responsibility in the British society. There is no question of either integration or assimilation. Muslim community must participate and fight for the rights granted by the state. It is not asking for any favour. Muslim community does not hate British values, they hate British policies. British needs to recognize and acknowledge that Muslim values do not pose a threat to the strategic values of Western society. We all need dialogue at all levels. It is possible to find common ground on the basis of respect for difference and a toleration of others. Muslim schools can play a vibrant part in British society. There is a huge desire for Muslim schools within the community. Studies show that 84% agree that there should be a choice for the Muslims. Muslim community should compel the state to provide the same educational provision as it does for other religions. There is a proposal under which parents would be able to demand the creation of a whole new institution, run by a private company. Money would follow the pupil, so that unpopular schools would be close down
A Muslim school is an institution which is established to mold a child into an Islamic personality and provide the educational needs of our children. One of the primary aims of Muslim school is to make a person a good citizen, some one who respects others, values other people’s views and lives as a peaceful and legal citizen of the country. Tolerance and harmony are Islamic virtues and Muslim schools put more emphasis to appreciate and respect other cultures. In a Muslim school, the pupils are coming from home to home. Muslim schools are the solution to racial tensions, not part of the problem. Research shows that children perform better when they are in a familiar social setting. Muslim schools certainly give Muslim children an atmosphere in which they can grow and excel. Muslim schools provide a vital bridge in allowing children from the Muslim community to succeed in adult life. The success of a Muslim school is the notion that no child is ever regarded as a failure.
There are hundreds of state as well as Church schools where Muslim pupils are in majority and all such schools should be converted to Muslim community schools.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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
British Pakistani Youths
Professor Yunus Samad of Bradford University delivered a lecture at Pakistan High Commission on the issues of the Pakistani youth. He criticised the Muslim community, Muslim parents, Masajid and Imams for all the problems of the Muslim youths.
In my view British education system and native teachers are responsible, who have no respect for Islamic values, languages and Muslim community. British education is the home of institutional racism. The schools and the teaching profession never tried to meet the needs and demands of Pakistani or Muslim children. They need a different approach in education. The native teachers do not have a clue of their mother tongues and values. There is a negative co-relation between school and home. The children come to schools with different values which have no place in English schools. They are victim of bullying through out their school life. The result is that they suffer from Identity Crises, making them mis-fit not only for the Muslim community but also for the host society. Majority of them leave schools with low grades or without any qualification. They suffer from mental, emotional and personality problems due to the fact that they have been mis-educated and de-educated by a system which does not understand them. In my view British education is responsible for all the problems of Pakistani youths, and not the parents, Masajid or Imams.
Pakistani bilingual children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. They need to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn Arabic to recite and understand the Holly Quran. They need to learn Urdu language to study and enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry and to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and without learning Urdu they are unable to understand the spirit of Islam.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Learn Urdu Not French
Bilingualism is not a problem, it is an asset. As so many pupils in UK have English as a second language or alternative language. We should be celebrating the fact that we have such a diverse language culture in our schools. Indeed, we should try to encourage some of our monolingual native pupils to join in the learning of a community language. Five of the languages that are gaining in popularity are Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu. The future for languages in the United Kingdom is very bright, if we abandon the notion that we have to stick rigidly to French and German.
Welcome to a brave new world in which pupils learn Urdu in all schools right from Nursery level. Bilingual Muslim teachers should be appointed in all schools who are well versed in Urdu Language. It is spoken and understood by nearly four million British Asian. It is a common language from Kabul to Burma. Lord Hasting was appointed the first Governor General of Bengal because he was well versed in Farsi and Urdu. It is a lingua franca in all inner cities where Asians are in majority. British education system has never taken keen interest in the teaching and learning of Urdu and majority of British born Muslim children could not learn to read and write. Credit goes to the Imams from the sub-continent who use Urdu in their Masajid and keep the Urdu language alive. But the British establishments with the help of the so called leaders are forcing Masajid to use English instead of Urdu. Indian and Pakistani films are being shown every where. There are nearly a dozen TVs Channels and radio stations broadcasting in Urdu/Hindi for 24 hours, entertaining Asians through out Western Europe. BBC has been requested to set up a TV Channel in Urdu/Hindi. Musical concerts are being arranged all over the country and top singers from the Sub-continent sing songs for the entertainment of the Public.
It is crucial for the Muslim children from the sub-continent to learn Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and not in any other Indian Languages. Therefore, in my opinion, both Muslim parents and schools must teach Urdu so that the children can enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. I would like to see even native children learning Urdu and not French so that they can learn to respect and understand British Muslim community through Urdu literature and poetry. The Independent news paper also asks for the teaching of Urdu instead of French in British schools for better race relations through a language.
Iftikhar Ahmad
State Funded Muslim Schools
British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s.
A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Certain concepts are embedded in words that do not translate. There are repertoires of phrases which exist in Arabic or Urdu because there is no English equivalent. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their home. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language along side their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.
Taxpayers’ money spent on schools should be handed to parents as vouchers to be used for their children’s education as they wished. Funds may be given to parents to set up their own schools. Lady Uddin argues strongly for the benefits of faith-based schooling, rejecting claims made in reports on the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford that polarised schooling contributed to community division. Culturally separate groups, communities and institutions do not have to be the causes of social instability. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools to be managed and controlled by Muslim Educational Trust and Charities.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
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 112 667
Learn Urdu Not French
Bilingualism is not a problem, it is an asset. As so many pupils in UK have English as a second language or alternative language. We should be celebrating the fact that we have such a diverse language culture in our schools. Indeed, we should try to encourage some of our monolingual native pupils to join in the learning of a community language. Five of the languages that are gaining in popularity are Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu. The future for languages in the United Kingdom is very bright, if we abandon the notion that we have to stick rigidly to French and German.
Welcome to a brave new world in which pupils learn Urdu in all schools right from Nursery level. Bilingual Muslim teachers should be appointed in all schools who are well versed in Urdu Language. It is spoken and understood by nearly four million British Asian. It is a common language from Kabul to Burma. Lord Hasting was appointed the first Governor General of Bengal because he was well versed in Farsi and Urdu. It is a lingua franca in all inner cities where Asians are in majority. British education system has never taken keen interest in the teaching and learning of Urdu and majority of British born Muslim children could not learn to read and write. Credit goes to the Imams from the sub-continent who use Urdu in their Masajid and keep the Urdu language alive. But the British establishments with the help of the so called leaders are forcing Masajid to use English instead of Urdu. Indian and Pakistani films are being shown every where. There are nearly a dozen TVs Channels and radio stations broadcasting in Urdu/Hindi for 24 hours, entertaining Asians through out Western Europe. BBC has been requested to set up a TV Channel in Urdu/Hindi. Musical concerts are being arranged all over the country and top singers from the Sub-continent sing songs for the entertainment of the Public.
It is crucial for the Muslim children from the sub-continent to learn Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and not in any other Indian Languages. Therefore, in my opinion, both Muslim parents and schools must teach Urdu so that the children can enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. I would like to see even native children learning Urdu and not French so that they can learn to respect and understand British Muslim community through Urdu literature and poetry. The Independent news paper also asks for the teaching of Urdu instead of French in British schools for better race relations through a language.
Iftikhar Ahmad
Citizenship Education
Citizenship education has been added to the National Curriculum and its aims to teach pupils: about the origins and implications of the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding. The introduction to the National Curriculum proclaims: promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through citizenship.
In an ideal world, Muslims would have integrated schools where people of different faiths could specialize in them within the curriculum. But we are a long way from that and as a consequence I think we have no choice but to have state funded Muslim schools. All the evidence shows that faith schools raise pupils’ confidence and self esteem better than state schools do. If you understand the moral parameters of your own faith properly and are confident in who you are, that makes you a good citizen, it means that you do not feel threatened by others and you are not susceptible to extremism. Muslim schools give a strong moral and spiritual out look on the world, the children feel secure. Muslims are no longer considered to be merely part of the sub-continent immigrant labouring class. They are British and part of the British society in all walks of life. Muslims schools are worthy of support. Parents of private Muslim schools are taxpayers too and are entitled to a share of the education budget. Muslim schools are promoting good citizenship and are promoting a better understanding of people and communities around them.
Islamic school does not foster separatism and hatred. There is ample evidence that state schools foster intolerance, hate and bullying. There is no evidence that Islamic schools indoctrinate children with values that endanger shared society. David Bell, the chief school’s inspector was wrong to say that Islamic schools must do more to promote social cohesion. There is no evidence that there is a link between Islamic schools and terrorism. Islamic education actively discourages terrorism. Muslim parents want their children to keep their faith, culture and languages and not fall into Western way such as binge drinking, yobish culture and loose morals. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. It is the state schools who have been producing intolerance.
Citizenship lessons do not make full sense” unless they are taught within the context of Islam. In the same way Multicultural studies should also be taught in the context of Islam. Just because people do not throw bricks at each other on a daily basis, does not mean everything is rosy in the garden. We do need a common sense of British Identity but it has nothing to do with “common values or shared culture”. We can learn from Ottoman multi ethnic empire which achieved remarkable degree of religious tolerance.
Terrorism is nothing to do with British Muslim community. It is an international problem, created by the unjust policies of the West towards Muslims. Government measures to tackle terrorism are creating a climate of fear among Muslims and risk encouraging Islomophobic attacks. Recent government proposals to screen clerics and close down Masajid were sending out a message that Muslims cannot be trusted.
Iftikhar Ahmad
European and Community Languages
The class of 2006 is poorly equipped to take on the globalised world, despite of their high grades. Less than five percent take foreign languages. The UK recently came bottom out of 28 countries in language ability, according to a study. Learning of languages widens the mental horizons. The British education system is depriving its citizens of the possibility of all the wonderful and useful things that come with a foreign language. An English only education leaves our children at a linguistic and cultural disadvantage. It leaves our children behind. Learning a second language at an early age has a positive effect on intellectual growth and enriches and enhances a child’s mental development. It leaves students with more flexibility in thinking. It opens the door to other culture and helps a child understand and appreciate people from other countries. It increases job opportunities in many careers where knowing another language is a real asset. Some research suggests that bilingual children are more creative and better at solving complex problems. Bilinguals outperform verbal and non-verbal tests of intelligence. Researchers from University College London found out that learning a second language “boots” brain power. It is a well known fact, if somebody refuses to learn someone else’s language; they implicitly reject the other’s culture and their way of life. Schools need to teach children maths and three languages from nursery to A-level. In western European countries, all children are supposed to learn two languages along with the mother tongue at early stages. Younger children are more receptive to foreign languages than older pupils and are able to absorb the rhythms and structures more easily. It is essential that enthusiasm for languages could be nurtured earlier.
The largest ethnic minority groups in British schools are children of Pakistani origin: a community often accused of resisting assimilation and integration. Ann Cryer, the MP for Keighley blamed Imams for not speaking English. She should blame British schooling for not teaching Urdu/Arabic to Pakistani children, thus depriving them of understanding the Sermons in Arabic/Urdu. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu/Arabic literature and poetry. Imams are not part of the problem rather than the solutions. There is a proposal to teach Urdu as a compulsory language instead of French and German in British schools. The British Government is urged to remove the requirement in the National Curriculum that children between the ages of 11-14 study at least one European language. The linguistic abilities of large number of Muslim children were being ignored because they had to learn another European language as well as mastering English. The Government must promote the status of Urdu language instead of languages of European origin. Tim Benson, head of Nelson primary school in Newham said that the “nationalistic curriculum failed to recognize the staggering array of linguistic abilities and competencies” in schools such as his, where the pupils spoke more than 40 languages. The linguistic dexterity of families speaking an array of languages was celebrated but the “awesome achievements” of children mastering three or four languages were barely recognised by the education system. Social and emotional education comes with your own language-literature and poetry. A DFES document clearly states that children should be encouraged to maintain and develop their home languages. A study shows that bilingualism is a positive benefit to cognitive development and bilingual teacher is a dire necessity and is a role model. The price of ignoring children’s bilingualism is educational failure and social exclusion. Bilingualism could be developed by bringing a partner from Pakistan. The kids will get better at both languages. One will speak English while the other will speak Urdu.
A language is not just a series of words and communications; it’s the product of a culture of people. Language is a product of history and culture. The more we destroy our linguistic diversity by only using English, the more we lose the diversity of our cultural and historical identities. Erasing languages is erasing history. Erasing history leaves people without identity and a sense of identity is what makes us human. Learning languages teach us different ways of thinking, a worthwhile and enlightening mental exercise. Languages keep us apart from animal world. Human diversity is a part of God’s plan of creation. It is something to be encouraged as a social good, not something to be annihilated in a melting pot of national cohesion. If we force the whole world to speak only one language, we are forcing the whole world to lose its own identity and culture. Languages make the world a better place. It helps us to realize that we are all different and hopefully to be more tolerant with our differences.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
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 112 667
An Open Letter to the British Home Secretary
The home secretary has braved a critical audience to call on Muslim parents to do more in the battle against terrorism. He asked to look for the “tell-tale signs” in their children and intervene if they suspect they are being influenced by extremists. Islam was being perverted by “fanatics” exploiting young people. These fanatics are looking to groom and brainwash children for suicide bombing. When he was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, he never urged parents to monitor their children. Muslim parents shall be treated differently if their children show extreme tendencies compared to others of different faiths who may also harbour extreme tendencies.
Muslim parents have been worried about their children indulging in anti-social behavior, binge drinking, drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies and other social evils. Muslim children suffer bullying and racism in schools and outside the schools. Majority of Muslim children leave schools with low grades. Muslim parents would like their children to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. Majority of Muslim youths are unemployed and even 25% of Muslim graduates are without full-time employment. Those who are lucky to be employed find bullying, discrimination and few prospects for promotion to higher positions. The number of Muslim youths in prison and mental hospitals is on the increase. The number of drug addicts is on the increase. Hundreds of overseas Muslim doctors are unemployed. Terrorism is not the issue for the Muslims. It is the creation of the West.
Muslim children are human beings with social, emotional and spiritual needs and demands. They are not just economics for the economic prosperity of the British society. They are cut off from their cultural roots and are unable to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. British schooling dislocates Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. By the age of 16 “they are not ours, neither are they theirs”. Majority of Muslim parents wanted access to an” environment where their children can grow up with an understanding of Islam, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. The sound knowledge of ones language would appear to help – and not hinder the acquisition of a second language and bilingual children may even have slight cognitive advantages. In British schooling, priority is given to suppress the other languages in favour of English. In fact, other languages should be fostered in addition to English.
Mastery of English language is not enough for the Muslim children. If they find that they are not welcome in a country, it is difficult to find motivation for integration and education. In the past Muslims were victim of Paki-bashing in all walks of life. The British Establishment did nothing to tackle that problem and issue. Now the young Muslim generation, well versed in English is victim of terrorism by the British Establishment and thousands of Muslim youths have been searched and arrested and are behind the bar without any charges and that make them more alienated from the British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
E-mail: info@londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667
Why State Funded Muslim Schools
British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s.
A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Certain concepts are embedded in words that do not translate. There are repertoires of phrases which exist in Arabic or Urdu because there is no English equivalent. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their home. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language along side their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.
Taxpayers’ money spent on schools should be handed to parents as vouchers to be used for their children’s education as they wished. Funds to be given to parents to set up their own schools. Lady Uddin argues strongly for the benefits of faith-based schooling, rejecting claims made in reports on the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford that polarised schooling contributed to community division. Culturally separate groups, communities and institutions do not have to be the causes of social instability. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools to be managed and controlled by Muslim Educational Trust and Charities.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Dress Code
A Muslim girl could not attend her school for the last two years because she could not wear the Jilbab banned by her school. Jilbab is considered to be a health and safety hazard and is likely to lead to an unhealthy competition among its pupils to dress more Islamically. The High Court upheld the decision of the school which is worrying and objectionable in the opinion of the MCB. The ruling is “a regrettable limitation of personal freedom”, according to the Daily Telegraph. The school has 90% Muslim girls and a western educated Muslim head teacher who had imposed the ban to prevent students from falling prey to extremist groups. She wanted to protect other Muslim pupils from fundamentalists. It is a multi-cultural and multi-faith secular school which is not suitable for bilingual Muslim girls. They need Muslim community school with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. In the opinion of Fiona MacTaggert MP, the native teachers do not have the linguistic skills or relevant social and theological know-how to tackle the issues of the Muslim pupils in secular state schools.
State funded Muslim school with Muslim teachers is a proper place for Muslim children than a secular multi-faith school. The case should not have gone to court in the first place. The school should have tolerated what she wears as long as it is the same colour as the school uniform and the whole matter should have been sorted out as a community matter. School has accommodated other forms of Islamic dress. Jilbab is acceptable in other British schools and it is the uniform of Feversham College Bradford, the first state funded Muslim school. The school’s arguments are bogus and reminiscent of the arguments that used to be put forward prior to 1997 to prevent Islamic schools from gaining state funded status. Respect and tolerance of Muslims is essential for positive community cohesion.
State funded Muslim schools are not divisive; they are beacons of excellence academically, spiritually and morally. They provide a powerful structure for students to pursue their education. Curriculum infused with Islamic teaching allows students to explore their beliefs and cultural backgrounds more fully, an opportunity they would not have in a multi-faith state school. A deeper exploration of Islamic beliefs and history produces young Muslims who are willing and able to serve as responsible and knowledgeable ambassadors of Islam in the British multicultural society. State schools LEAs and the DFES are not in a position to educate Muslim pupils because they do not have enough bilingual Muslim teachers, governors and policy makers. Islam is a maker of identity and belonging rather than a system of belief.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Crime against Humanity
To deprive a Muslim child from his/her culture and language is a crime against Humanity. British education system is guilty of such crime for the last 50 years. The first wave of Muslims arrived with three or four languages including English but the next generation born and educated by native teachers has been subject to learn English in local accents, making them mis-fit not only for the British society at large but also for the whole world. A Muslim is the citizen of this small global village. On top of that they have been discouraged to learn Arabic and Urdu, making them cut off from their cultural roots. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. They are unable to have a good communication with their parents and elders. All of them suffer from Identity Crises resulting in mental, emotional and social problems. We have lost three generations and fourth one is in the process of loosing its linguistic, Religious and cultural Identity. Respect and tolerance of different religions, cultures and languages are essential for positive community cohesion.
The solution of all those problems is state funded Muslim schools. Muslim parents should be given educational vouchers so that they could send their children to private Muslim schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools, under the control of Muslim Educational Trusts or Charities. Teacher is a role model. Bilingual Muslim teachers are required to teach bilingual Muslim pupils right from Nursery level.
The first wave of Muslims used English as an economic language and still it is meant for earning bread and butter and not used as a social and emotional language. English could become social and emotional language if Muslims start moving in and around pubs, night clubs and frequently changing partners. This is what the British establishment want them to do in order to become the integral part of the British society. Now Muslim Imams will need to show a basic command of spoken English before being allowed to enter the country to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Muslim community. The Imams from the sub-continent are already well versed in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian on top of their mother tongue, Punjabi, Bengali or Gujrati and other regional languages. Now they have to learn English as an extra burden. Urdu is a social and emotional language of the Muslims from the sub-continent and Arabic is their religious language. They are in a better position to serve the Muslim community in Arabic and Urdu so that they could feel at home in an alien British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Education and Language
A comprehensive school that pioneered the teaching of pupils in their home language in maths and sciences has won the approval of school inspectors. According to OFSTED, good improvement has been made and the school no longer has the serious weaknesses. Turkish and Somali pupils are taught lessons in their mother tongues until they have mastered English well enough to learn through that medium. The said school must have employed Turkish and Somali teachers well versed in their own languages and English. The pupils felt at home with their own teachers who could understand their needs and demands. They developed confidence crucial for mental, emotional and personality development. There are thousands of bilingual children from the sub-continent. Majority of them are at the bottom. They need to be educated bilingualy.
The Muslim community has been demanding to set up state funded Muslim schools to raise the standard of their children. State schools have dislocated Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. State education system is leaving Muslims in a cultural limbo. By the age of 16, they neither belong to Muslim community nor belong to host community. Only state funded Muslim schools can play a vibrant part in British society. Few Muslim schools with Muslim teachers are doing a better job to raise the standard of education but majority of Muslim pupils is in state schools leaving with low grades and without Islamic Identity. LEA’s are proposing race quotas in schools inorder to disperse Muslim pupils. In my opinion it is not going to work. It will fail just like the policy of busing children from different areas in the 70s. It will not help to raise the standard of education of the Muslim pupils. It will not help to develop better race relation. The Muslim pupils will be victims of racism and bullying if the proposal of race quota is implemented.
In my opinion, those state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority should be designated as Muslim community schools under the management of Muslim educational Trust and Charities. They are in a better position to understand the needs and demands of the Muslim pupils. Voucher system may be introduced to give choice to the parents to choose a school. Qualified bilingual Muslim teachers from abroad should be recruited to teach bilingual Muslim children. They will be able to teach community languages and Islamic studies so that the children do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots. British educated Muslim teachers could teach English language, literature and poetry. Muslim children need to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Crime against Humanity
To deprive a Muslim child from his/her culture and language is a crime against Humanity. British education system is guilty of such crime for the last 50 years. The first wave of Muslims arrived with three or four languages including English but the next generation born and educated by native teachers has been subject to learn English in local accents, making them mis-fit not only for the British society at large but also for the whole world. A Muslim is the citizen of this small global village. On top of that they have been discouraged to learn Arabic and Urdu, making them cut off from their cultural roots. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. They are unable to have a good communication with their parents and elders. All of them suffer from Identity Crises resulting in mental, emotional and social problems. We have lost three generations and fourth one is in the process of loosing its linguistic, Religious and cultural Identity. Respect and tolerance of different religions, cultures and languages are essential for positive community cohesion.
The solution of all those problems is state funded Muslim schools. Muslim parents should be given educational vouchers so that they could send their children to private Muslim schools. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools, under the control of Muslim Educational Trusts or Charities. Teacher is a role model. Bilingual Muslim teachers are required to teach bilingual Muslim pupils right from Nursery level.
The first wave of Muslims used English as an economic language and still it is meant for earning bread and butter and not used as a social and emotional language. English could become social and emotional language if Muslims start moving in and around pubs, night clubs and frequently changing partners. This is what the British establishment want them to do in order to become the integral part of the British society. Now Muslim Imams will need to show a basic command of spoken English before being allowed to enter the country to satisfy the spiritual needs of the Muslim community. The Imams from the sub-continent are already well versed in Urdu, Arabic, and Persian on top of their mother tongue, Punjabi, Bengali or Gujrati and other regional languages. Now they have to learn English as an extra burden. Urdu is a social and emotional language of the Muslims from the sub-continent and Arabic is their religious language. They are in a better position to serve the Muslim community in Arabic and Urdu so that they could feel at home in an alien British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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
Faith-based Schools
The education secretary angers secular groups by pledging £500m to rebuild faith-based schools, including only two Muslim schools. There are over half a million Muslim children in British schools where bilingualism and Islamic Identity is totally neglected. In history lessons, Muslim contributions to European learning and culture are never mentioned. Only three percent of Muslim children are in Muslim schools.
Islam does not believe in integration but encourages participation and feel responsibility in the British society. There is no question of either integration or assimilation. Muslim community must participate and fight for the rights granted by the state. It is not asking for any favour. Muslim community does not hate British values, they hate British policies. British needs to recognize and acknowledge that Muslim values do not pose a threat to the strategic values of Western society. We all need dialogue at all levels. It is possible to find common ground on the basis of respect for difference and a toleration of others. Muslim schools can play a vibrant part in British society. There is a huge desire for Muslim schools within the community. Studies show that 84% agree that there should be a choice for the Muslims. Muslim community should compel the state to provide the same educational provision as it does for other religions. There is a proposal under which parents would be able to demand the creation of a whole new institution, run by a private company. Money would follow the pupil, so that unpopular schools would be close down
A Muslim school is an institution which is established to mold a child into an Islamic personality and provide the educational needs of our children. One of the primary aims of Muslim school is to make a person a good citizen, some one who respects others, values other people’s views and lives as a peaceful and legal citizen of the country. Tolerance and harmony are Islamic virtues and Muslim schools put more emphasis to appreciate and respect other cultures. In a Muslim school, the pupils are coming from home to home. Muslim schools are the solution to racial tensions, not part of the problem. Research shows that children perform better when they are in a familiar social setting. Muslim schools certainly give Muslim children an atmosphere in which they can grow and excel. Muslim schools provide a vital bridge in allowing children from the Muslim community to succeed in adult life. The success of a Muslim school is the notion that no child is ever regarded as a failure.
There are hundreds of state as well as Church schools where Muslim pupils are in majority and all such schools should be converted to Muslim community schools.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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
British Pakistani Youths
Professor Yunus Samad of Bradford University delivered a lecture at Pakistan High Commission on the issues of the Pakistani youth. He criticised the Muslim community, Muslim parents, Masajid and Imams for all the problems of the Muslim youths.
In my view British education system and native teachers are responsible, who have no respect for Islamic values, languages and Muslim community. British education is the home of institutional racism. The schools and the teaching profession never tried to meet the needs and demands of Pakistani or Muslim children. They need a different approach in education. The native teachers do not have a clue of their mother tongues and values. There is a negative co-relation between school and home. The children come to schools with different values which have no place in English schools. They are victim of bullying through out their school life. The result is that they suffer from Identity Crises, making them mis-fit not only for the Muslim community but also for the host society. Majority of them leave schools with low grades or without any qualification. They suffer from mental, emotional and personality problems due to the fact that they have been mis-educated and de-educated by a system which does not understand them. In my view British education is responsible for all the problems of Pakistani youths, and not the parents, Masajid or Imams.
Pakistani bilingual children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. They need to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn Arabic to recite and understand the Holly Quran. They need to learn Urdu language to study and enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry and to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and without learning Urdu they are unable to understand the spirit of Islam.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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 112 667
Learn Urdu Not French
Bilingualism is not a problem, it is an asset. As so many pupils in UK have English as a second language or alternative language. We should be celebrating the fact that we have such a diverse language culture in our schools. Indeed, we should try to encourage some of our monolingual native pupils to join in the learning of a community language. Five of the languages that are gaining in popularity are Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu. The future for languages in the United Kingdom is very bright, if we abandon the notion that we have to stick rigidly to French and German.
Welcome to a brave new world in which pupils learn Urdu in all schools right from Nursery level. Bilingual Muslim teachers should be appointed in all schools who are well versed in Urdu Language. It is spoken and understood by nearly four million British Asian. It is a common language from Kabul to Burma. Lord Hasting was appointed the first Governor General of Bengal because he was well versed in Farsi and Urdu. It is a lingua franca in all inner cities where Asians are in majority. British education system has never taken keen interest in the teaching and learning of Urdu and majority of British born Muslim children could not learn to read and write. Credit goes to the Imams from the sub-continent who use Urdu in their Masajid and keep the Urdu language alive. But the British establishments with the help of the so called leaders are forcing Masajid to use English instead of Urdu. Indian and Pakistani films are being shown every where. There are nearly a dozen TVs Channels and radio stations broadcasting in Urdu/Hindi for 24 hours, entertaining Asians through out Western Europe. BBC has been requested to set up a TV Channel in Urdu/Hindi. Musical concerts are being arranged all over the country and top singers from the Sub-continent sing songs for the entertainment of the Public.
It is crucial for the Muslim children from the sub-continent to learn Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and not in any other Indian Languages. Therefore, in my opinion, both Muslim parents and schools must teach Urdu so that the children can enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. I would like to see even native children learning Urdu and not French so that they can learn to respect and understand British Muslim community through Urdu literature and poetry. The Independent news paper also asks for the teaching of Urdu instead of French in British schools for better race relations through a language.
Iftikhar Ahmad
State Funded Muslim Schools
British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s.
A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Certain concepts are embedded in words that do not translate. There are repertoires of phrases which exist in Arabic or Urdu because there is no English equivalent. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their home. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language along side their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.
Taxpayers’ money spent on schools should be handed to parents as vouchers to be used for their children’s education as they wished. Funds may be given to parents to set up their own schools. Lady Uddin argues strongly for the benefits of faith-based schooling, rejecting claims made in reports on the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford that polarised schooling contributed to community division. Culturally separate groups, communities and institutions do not have to be the causes of social instability. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools to be managed and controlled by Muslim Educational Trust and Charities.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
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 112 667
Learn Urdu Not French
Bilingualism is not a problem, it is an asset. As so many pupils in UK have English as a second language or alternative language. We should be celebrating the fact that we have such a diverse language culture in our schools. Indeed, we should try to encourage some of our monolingual native pupils to join in the learning of a community language. Five of the languages that are gaining in popularity are Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu. The future for languages in the United Kingdom is very bright, if we abandon the notion that we have to stick rigidly to French and German.
Welcome to a brave new world in which pupils learn Urdu in all schools right from Nursery level. Bilingual Muslim teachers should be appointed in all schools who are well versed in Urdu Language. It is spoken and understood by nearly four million British Asian. It is a common language from Kabul to Burma. Lord Hasting was appointed the first Governor General of Bengal because he was well versed in Farsi and Urdu. It is a lingua franca in all inner cities where Asians are in majority. British education system has never taken keen interest in the teaching and learning of Urdu and majority of British born Muslim children could not learn to read and write. Credit goes to the Imams from the sub-continent who use Urdu in their Masajid and keep the Urdu language alive. But the British establishments with the help of the so called leaders are forcing Masajid to use English instead of Urdu. Indian and Pakistani films are being shown every where. There are nearly a dozen TVs Channels and radio stations broadcasting in Urdu/Hindi for 24 hours, entertaining Asians through out Western Europe. BBC has been requested to set up a TV Channel in Urdu/Hindi. Musical concerts are being arranged all over the country and top singers from the Sub-continent sing songs for the entertainment of the Public.
It is crucial for the Muslim children from the sub-continent to learn Urdu to keep in touch with their cultural roots. Most of Islamic literature and poetry is in Urdu and not in any other Indian Languages. Therefore, in my opinion, both Muslim parents and schools must teach Urdu so that the children can enjoy the beauty of Urdu literature and poetry. I would like to see even native children learning Urdu and not French so that they can learn to respect and understand British Muslim community through Urdu literature and poetry. The Independent news paper also asks for the teaching of Urdu instead of French in British schools for better race relations through a language.
Iftikhar Ahmad
Citizenship Education
Citizenship education has been added to the National Curriculum and its aims to teach pupils: about the origins and implications of the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding. The introduction to the National Curriculum proclaims: promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through citizenship.
In an ideal world, Muslims would have integrated schools where people of different faiths could specialize in them within the curriculum. But we are a long way from that and as a consequence I think we have no choice but to have state funded Muslim schools. All the evidence shows that faith schools raise pupils’ confidence and self esteem better than state schools do. If you understand the moral parameters of your own faith properly and are confident in who you are, that makes you a good citizen, it means that you do not feel threatened by others and you are not susceptible to extremism. Muslim schools give a strong moral and spiritual out look on the world, the children feel secure. Muslims are no longer considered to be merely part of the sub-continent immigrant labouring class. They are British and part of the British society in all walks of life. Muslims schools are worthy of support. Parents of private Muslim schools are taxpayers too and are entitled to a share of the education budget. Muslim schools are promoting good citizenship and are promoting a better understanding of people and communities around them.
Islamic school does not foster separatism and hatred. There is ample evidence that state schools foster intolerance, hate and bullying. There is no evidence that Islamic schools indoctrinate children with values that endanger shared society. David Bell, the chief school’s inspector was wrong to say that Islamic schools must do more to promote social cohesion. There is no evidence that there is a link between Islamic schools and terrorism. Islamic education actively discourages terrorism. Muslim parents want their children to keep their faith, culture and languages and not fall into Western way such as binge drinking, yobish culture and loose morals. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. It is the state schools who have been producing intolerance.
Citizenship lessons do not make full sense” unless they are taught within the context of Islam. In the same way Multicultural studies should also be taught in the context of Islam. Just because people do not throw bricks at each other on a daily basis, does not mean everything is rosy in the garden. We do need a common sense of British Identity but it has nothing to do with “common values or shared culture”. We can learn from Ottoman multi ethnic empire which achieved remarkable degree of religious tolerance.
Terrorism is nothing to do with British Muslim community. It is an international problem, created by the unjust policies of the West towards Muslims. Government measures to tackle terrorism are creating a climate of fear among Muslims and risk encouraging Islomophobic attacks. Recent government proposals to screen clerics and close down Masajid were sending out a message that Muslims cannot be trusted.
Iftikhar Ahmad
European and Community Languages
The class of 2006 is poorly equipped to take on the globalised world, despite of their high grades. Less than five percent take foreign languages. The UK recently came bottom out of 28 countries in language ability, according to a study. Learning of languages widens the mental horizons. The British education system is depriving its citizens of the possibility of all the wonderful and useful things that come with a foreign language. An English only education leaves our children at a linguistic and cultural disadvantage. It leaves our children behind. Learning a second language at an early age has a positive effect on intellectual growth and enriches and enhances a child’s mental development. It leaves students with more flexibility in thinking. It opens the door to other culture and helps a child understand and appreciate people from other countries. It increases job opportunities in many careers where knowing another language is a real asset. Some research suggests that bilingual children are more creative and better at solving complex problems. Bilinguals outperform verbal and non-verbal tests of intelligence. Researchers from University College London found out that learning a second language “boots” brain power. It is a well known fact, if somebody refuses to learn someone else’s language; they implicitly reject the other’s culture and their way of life. Schools need to teach children maths and three languages from nursery to A-level. In western European countries, all children are supposed to learn two languages along with the mother tongue at early stages. Younger children are more receptive to foreign languages than older pupils and are able to absorb the rhythms and structures more easily. It is essential that enthusiasm for languages could be nurtured earlier.
The largest ethnic minority groups in British schools are children of Pakistani origin: a community often accused of resisting assimilation and integration. Ann Cryer, the MP for Keighley blamed Imams for not speaking English. She should blame British schooling for not teaching Urdu/Arabic to Pakistani children, thus depriving them of understanding the Sermons in Arabic/Urdu. They are unable to enjoy the beauty of Urdu/Arabic literature and poetry. Imams are not part of the problem rather than the solutions. There is a proposal to teach Urdu as a compulsory language instead of French and German in British schools. The British Government is urged to remove the requirement in the National Curriculum that children between the ages of 11-14 study at least one European language. The linguistic abilities of large number of Muslim children were being ignored because they had to learn another European language as well as mastering English. The Government must promote the status of Urdu language instead of languages of European origin. Tim Benson, head of Nelson primary school in Newham said that the “nationalistic curriculum failed to recognize the staggering array of linguistic abilities and competencies” in schools such as his, where the pupils spoke more than 40 languages. The linguistic dexterity of families speaking an array of languages was celebrated but the “awesome achievements” of children mastering three or four languages were barely recognised by the education system. Social and emotional education comes with your own language-literature and poetry. A DFES document clearly states that children should be encouraged to maintain and develop their home languages. A study shows that bilingualism is a positive benefit to cognitive development and bilingual teacher is a dire necessity and is a role model. The price of ignoring children’s bilingualism is educational failure and social exclusion. Bilingualism could be developed by bringing a partner from Pakistan. The kids will get better at both languages. One will speak English while the other will speak Urdu.
A language is not just a series of words and communications; it’s the product of a culture of people. Language is a product of history and culture. The more we destroy our linguistic diversity by only using English, the more we lose the diversity of our cultural and historical identities. Erasing languages is erasing history. Erasing history leaves people without identity and a sense of identity is what makes us human. Learning languages teach us different ways of thinking, a worthwhile and enlightening mental exercise. Languages keep us apart from animal world. Human diversity is a part of God’s plan of creation. It is something to be encouraged as a social good, not something to be annihilated in a melting pot of national cohesion. If we force the whole world to speak only one language, we are forcing the whole world to lose its own identity and culture. Languages make the world a better place. It helps us to realize that we are all different and hopefully to be more tolerant with our differences.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
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London School of Islamics
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An Open Letter to the British Home Secretary
The home secretary has braved a critical audience to call on Muslim parents to do more in the battle against terrorism. He asked to look for the “tell-tale signs” in their children and intervene if they suspect they are being influenced by extremists. Islam was being perverted by “fanatics” exploiting young people. These fanatics are looking to groom and brainwash children for suicide bombing. When he was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, he never urged parents to monitor their children. Muslim parents shall be treated differently if their children show extreme tendencies compared to others of different faiths who may also harbour extreme tendencies.
Muslim parents have been worried about their children indulging in anti-social behavior, binge drinking, drug addiction, sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies and other social evils. Muslim children suffer bullying and racism in schools and outside the schools. Majority of Muslim children leave schools with low grades. Muslim parents would like their children to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. Majority of Muslim youths are unemployed and even 25% of Muslim graduates are without full-time employment. Those who are lucky to be employed find bullying, discrimination and few prospects for promotion to higher positions. The number of Muslim youths in prison and mental hospitals is on the increase. The number of drug addicts is on the increase. Hundreds of overseas Muslim doctors are unemployed. Terrorism is not the issue for the Muslims. It is the creation of the West.
Muslim children are human beings with social, emotional and spiritual needs and demands. They are not just economics for the economic prosperity of the British society. They are cut off from their cultural roots and are unable to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. British schooling dislocates Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. By the age of 16 “they are not ours, neither are they theirs”. Majority of Muslim parents wanted access to an” environment where their children can grow up with an understanding of Islam, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages. The sound knowledge of ones language would appear to help – and not hinder the acquisition of a second language and bilingual children may even have slight cognitive advantages. In British schooling, priority is given to suppress the other languages in favour of English. In fact, other languages should be fostered in addition to English.
Mastery of English language is not enough for the Muslim children. If they find that they are not welcome in a country, it is difficult to find motivation for integration and education. In the past Muslims were victim of Paki-bashing in all walks of life. The British Establishment did nothing to tackle that problem and issue. Now the young Muslim generation, well versed in English is victim of terrorism by the British Establishment and thousands of Muslim youths have been searched and arrested and are behind the bar without any charges and that make them more alienated from the British society.
Iftikhar Ahmad