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Home | News | Shaykh Pirzada calls for national survey on pupils of Muslim faith schools

On Friday 20 April 2007, a forum was held at Jamia Al-Karam, in Retford, Nottinghamshire, organised by the Daily Jang, to discuss the issue of Muslim faith schools in the United Kingdom. The debate was initiated by the popular columnist Mansoor Afaq.

Chairing the forum was Shaykh M I H Pirzada who stated, “Up until now there has been no individual, educated in a Muslim faith school in the United Kingdom, who has been involved in serious crime or activities relating to terrorism. The vast majority of Muslim faith schools have great success stories and they perform far better than other schools in their respective locales.”

Commenting on his Al-Karam Secondary School, he stated, “In the latest GCSE results of 2006, Al-Karam Secondary School has performed better than all other schools in the county and in its short history of eleven years it has topped the Nottinghamshire GCSE league three times. Due to the performance of these schools and the opportunities they offer, they are becoming more and more accepted by the community at large.”

“In order to realise the positive effect of these schools and their contributions to the British society, the government should carry out a national survey of pupils and former pupils of these Muslim faith schools.” He continued, “It would be in the best interest of the government, to establish Muslim schools in communities heavily populated by Muslims. These schools will make the coming generation better Muslims and better citizens of this country.”

Seven major educational establishments participated in the forum that has been regarded as a positive step towards looking at the issue of Muslim faith schools in a constructive manner. Other than these establishments, representatives from the British Muslim Forum as well as the Muslim Council of Britain also participated.

The head of Birmingham’s Al-Hijra School, Abdul Karim Saqib, in his comments stated, “There is no need to be alarmed about Muslim faith schools, since there are not enough Muslim faith schools that can cater for the six hundred thousand Muslim children in this country. These schools only represent and cater for a small percentage of Muslim children. Though, Muslim parents can play their role by joining school governing bodies in schools where the vast majority of the children come from a Muslim background.”

Amjad Ahmed, head of Al-Furqan School, echoing the point of Shaykh M I H Pirzada, said, “Pupils who have completed their studies through Muslim faith schools are playing a positive role in the wider society and making valuable contributions in their communities.”

The representative of Al-Hira School and the BMF, Hafiz Ghulam Rasul, commenting on the wider perspective stated, “Our fundamental issue is that we as a community are isolated in this society and this is due to our own fault. Keeping our identity, we have been unable to maintain a connection with the wider society. Not just schools, in every other aspect efforts need to be made.”

Others who participated in the forum include Muhammad Israr-ul-Haq from the Suffa Academy in Bradford, Maulana Bostan Qadri, a trustee of the BMF, from Birmingham and Tahir Alam, chair of the educational committee of the MCB. For further reading on the discussion of the forum, please refer to the Daily Jang.

 NEWS: 06/05/2007