Faith Schools: Should we keep God out of the classroom?

BY HAMZA A. BAJWA

If there has been any topic more heatedly debated in recent times, especially following the major societal changes and re-thinking experienced by a post 7/7 Britain, it is the topic pertaining to faith schools and its place in our multi-religious society.

Our Prime Minister, Tony Blair, although heavily criticised from many quarters of the Muslim community over the "draconian" Terrorism Bill he is attempting to pass through parliament, he has conversely received praise for his support of faith schools declaring that he would back them, including Muslim schools, which he believes are part of the "proper" schooling system. He has also said that faith schools are "perfectly consistent" in a multi-racial, multi-cultural society, where people have the option of choosing whether to have their children educated in their own faith. He also insisted that the schools did not teach children to "look at children of other faiths in a bad way" since they are often made up of pupils from other religions.

Despite Blair’s views, and perhaps coupled with the reactionary measures hastily drawn up and pushed through following the terrorist bombings in July, a strong debate has been raging since then asking whether faith schools truly are "consistent" or whether they would, as Polly Toynbee from the Guardian Newspaper believes, close the window in providing a child with an "open-minded, free-thinking education".

Does it really lead to a "ghettoised" system as questioned by Barry Sheerman, the chair to the Commons education committee?

Is the Prime Minister wrong in supporting these "anachronistic" schools when a recent ICM/Guardian survey revealed that as many as 64% of the people opposed the idea of the government funding faith schools?

To find answers to these questions, I attended a symposium organised by "The Dialogue with Islam" forum on Tuesday at Queen Marry College, University of London, where a distinguished panel of speakers were invited to discuss the issue of faith schools entitled: Should we keep God out of the classroom?

The auditorium was thoroughly packed out and with the speakers rearing to start, it seemed like it would be a lively and animated discussion.

The speakers:

Chris Woodhead – Former chief of OFSTED

Marilyn Mason - Education Officer, British Humanist Association

Abdullah Trevathan – Headmaster of Islamia school

Dr. Abdul-Wahid – Muslim G. P. and social affairs writer

Polly Toynbee – Guardian newspaper columnist

The debate, chaired by Robin Lustig, host of BBC World Tonight,

Began with the 5 speakers given a few minutes to express their opening-thoughts, introducing their respective stance to the audience.

Chris Woodhead was in favour of faith schools. He reasoned that there were not enough good schools; faith schools are good schools, "Therefore I would like to see more faith schools." He further said that as part of a democracy, tax-paying parents should have the freedom to choose where to admit their children.

Marilyn Mason, however, said that schools should do their part in promoting mutual understanding and social cohesion by providing the opportunity for children to get to know other children from different religious backgrounds and that this would not be achieved by dividing children up on the grounds of religion.

On the other hand, Abdullah Trevathan warned that as with many controversies, there exists a lot of confusion, exaggeration and fear that needs to be dispelled. He also emphasised from an Islamic perspective the "ancient connection" between faith and knowledge, which, besides the recent rise of secularism, he believed was no reason to discard this old partnership. He agreed with Woodhead, "The tax-payer, whether he be Jew, Muslim, Sikh or Hindu, should have a right to have their faith represented in the educational system."

He highlighted the important relationship known from his experience as a Muslim teacher that the self-esteem and confidence of a child was related to a connection between what was taught at home and its reflection at school.

Mr Trevathan also emphasised that at no point during the evening would he advocate Muslim exclusivity in Muslim schools.

Dr. Abdul-Wahid firstly forwarded statistics that 33% of all Christian children had a choice of going to a Christian school, with 39% for Jewish children; but, only 0.4% of all Muslims (numbering half a million) had this choice, which he described as a huge "anomaly".

Controversially, he believes that one of the reasons for the rise in popularity of faith schools is due to a relationship with inculcating strong moral principles, which has begun to erode due to the diminishing role religion has had to play as a result of the spread of secularism in our society. Examples he gave were "lack of respect, violence towards teachers, anti-social behaviour, drug problems, teenage pregnancy problems", which he believed was a major reason why Muslim parents, and parents from other schools, were favouring faith schools.

He also said, "I believe that keeping God out of the classroom is impossible. Ideas related to faith, religion and God touch so many parts of our life that it is irrational and frankly would stifle thinking if we chose to simply deny the opportunity for them to think about this topic." Polly Toynbee immediately retorted forcefully stating that there was no place for blind faith and dogma in the classroom, but rather for questioning, open-minds, curiosity, interest and understanding in many and all faiths.

She also cited the situation of the children in Northern Ireland; the faith school divide between Catholics and Protestants, as an "appalling" example of children growing up and being educated separately "so that they never get to know the other, and find that they are not ‘the other’ at all". She said that we need to stop looking at people as "that group over there" and warned, "We are all done for if we don’t learn to sit next to each other, study together, learn and live together."

The stage was then immediately open to questions from the audience. The questions were well varied, from both Muslims and non-Muslims, and made for a very interesting dialogue.

The opening question was to the secularists asking how they kept their "god" out of the classroom? Toynbee briefly answered explaining that secularism was not a religion. The chairman then asked Trevathan whether he taught his children that there were some who did not believe in God.

"Yes we do," he answered, elaborating that his school has 23 different nationalities with rabbis, priests, secularists and humanists coming in to address the children.

During the discussion, Dr Abdul-Wahid criticised the governments Citizenship Curriculum, which he described as "appalling" saying, "It doesn’t actually teach you anything constructive and focuses on things that doesn’t make a person a good citizen."

Marilyn Mason stated that she was not an "assimilationist" but an "integrationist". Woodhead added that the British model was multi-culturalism, whilst the French model was assimilationism with a "very deliberate decision to ignore ethnic, religious and cultural differences".

Woodhead was asked about ghettoisation to which he said that it was not solely the result of faith schools. He said that ghettoisation should not be interpreted as a "bad thing" since Abdullah Trevathan’s Islamia Primary School was one of the best in London despite its majority 95% Muslim student population.

He noted that young people will feel confident if they know their particular culture and faith is accepted and recognised, although Toynbee said that self-esteem and confidence came from going to a good school and being well taught.

The chairman posed the question of the evening asking why religion could not be dealt with in the home separate from the school, to which Dr. Abdul-Wahid said that religion was by nature, like secularism, a set of principles carried and applied wherever one can in life.

One very significant contribution from the audience came from a Muslim female primary English teacher who said that children have an innate desire to ask questions about God. "Not a single day goes by without a child, black or white, asking me something about God and creation," she said, grudgingly conceding, "I don’t want to do that, all I want to do is teach Jane Eyre."

Overall, The Dialogue with Muslims organised a wonderful evening of fruitful discussion. Not only was it highly absorbing for all present; but also the speakers were dynamic and thoughtful, which was indicative of the organisers’ hard work and careful planning.

The Dialogue with Muslims forum is an organisation that knows what it is doing and I would recommend any lecture and/or symposium organised by them.

For more information, including future events, visit their website at: www.dialoguewithislam.org

The Muslim Weekly