Iftikhar Ahmad
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Jan 24, 2005, 1:58 PM
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Education and Language
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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
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