Source: The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1821496,00.html
On July 16, 2006 The Observer ran an opinion piece by Sarfraz Manzoor on the subject of faith school. Manzoor writes, "I recently completed a BBC Radio 4 documentary which asked whether faith schools might exacerbate existing tensions between communities. I visited an Islamic school in Birmingham. The school is popular and produces excellent exam results. Walking along the corridor I noticed posters depicting Islamic history and heroes and a map highlighting the different origin nations of the pupils. Supporters of such schools claim they produce self-confident young adults who do not feel they are the only Muslim in the village. I sympathise but think this comes with a price. My Muslim values were transmitted through my parents who would not have dreamed of expecting my school to provide them. I find it hard to understand why today's parents - Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Christian - believe schools should have a role in teaching religious faith. Britain today is multicultural and multi-faith and it seems perverse to try to create artificial mono-faith ghettos... So how do we avoid, in Trevor Phillips's phrase, sleepwalking into segregation? We can't turn the clock back and close all faith schools. But there can be greater vigilance about what and who is taught. If Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs want their children educated separately, they need also to learn about the ties that bind all of us together. It cannot be right to have only Islamic heroes on the walls of Islamic schools... Faith schools should have to accept children of other faiths, it is better for the children and it is certainly better for the country."