Call for a Muslim School in Scotland
A report by academics at the University of Edinburgh says that a significant proportion of children in Scotland are Muslim and a state school for them would show the government’s "commitment to parity”.
The study, led by Khadijah Elshayyal, states that Urdu should be taught "more explicitly” in schools as it is the fourth most widely spoken language in Scottish homes. A Muslim school could welcome children from all backgrounds and represent an opportunity for successful community engagement.
The report said there were state-funded Roman Catholic, Episcopalian and Jewish schools but none for Muslims. Given the number of Muslims in parts of Glasgow and Dundee, there was an opportunity for the government to redress the balance by funding one.
"If such a school were open to children from all backgrounds, it would serve as an acknowledgment of Scotland’s multifaith and multicultural landscape and could represent an opportunity for successful community engagement with the education system, as well as for inter-faith integration, interaction and learning,” the report stated.
About 2.5 per cent of children aged 5-14 in Scotland are Muslim but in some areas of Glasgow the figure is as high as 48 per cent. Muslims are among the most highly educated in Scotland, with 38 per cent studying to degree level compared with 27 per cent overall.
The report comes after the UK-government commissioned Casey review found segregation and social exclusion in Britain were at "worrying levels”.
Gordon MacRae, the chief executive of Humanist Society Scotland, said that rather than embodying a "single religious character”, state schools should be a "beacon of integration”.
"Muslim children are doing well when learning with children of different or no faith,” he said.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Scotland said: "This is something the government should look at, as faith-based schools are operating across the UK, but it is not something the Muslim Council of Scotland are directly engaged in. It is up to individual communities to decide if it is something they feel would be beneficial.”
Source: The Times
