Islamic School Closure is 'Good Lesson'

December 10, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Australian

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22898328-12377,00.html

THE closure of a Muslim school by the West Australian Government is a warning to other Islamic schools, the former head of Australia's peak Muslim body says. The Muslim Ladies' College in the Perth suburb of Kenwick was shut down by state Education Minister Mark McGowan yesterday for a series of "serious concerns" revealed during a departmental investigation.

The school did not follow the state's curriculum, it employed unregistered teachers, serious questions were asked about the school's financial viability, and some school buildings were shipping containers.

A spokesman for the minister said at one time, students at the school were being given religious instruction 43 per cent of the time.

The school's acting director Zubair Sayed has been arrested and charged with fraud over the alleged theft of almost $356,000 in federal funding from the school.

Ameer Ali, an academic at Murdoch University and former president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, said the Government took the right step in closing the school.