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’Til faith do us part

The opening of the first state-funded Hindu school in the United Kingdom — and in Europe — is lawful under U.K. statutes starting from the 1850s. It is also consistent with centuries of British educational practice. British faith schools are funded almost entirely by the state out of ordinary revenues. They are legally required to follow the national curricula of England and Wales, or those of Scotland or Northern Ireland as the case may be. They are reputed to provide a better education than many non-faith schools, at least going by school-leaving exam results. Many parents also feel that faith schools teach good behaviour. There is, for example, nothing new about Jewish schools in the U.K. state or maintained sector, although the reluctance of — particularly Conservative — Education Ministers to approve applications to start Islamic schools remained an anomaly until the Labour government led the way in 2000.

However, the latest state-funded primary school opens at a time when the very idea of faith schools is being questioned afresh in the U.K. One of Tony Blair’s last acts as Prime Minister was to authorise such schools to appoint coreligionists in preference to other applicants, but it is not clear how that can be reconciled with the anti-discrimination law in employment. Secondly, the fact that British faith schools have always been allowed to favour coreligionists in admissions is now generating accusations of insincere professions of faith. Many parents suddenly become devoutly religious to gain faith-school admission for their children; some Anglican parish priests have noted that post-admission, their church attendance ceases. Thirdly, and most seriously in view of the close correlation between social class and educational attainment, faith-based secondary schools have been accused of engaging in covert selection by social class. Their strong examination results — vital to national league-table standings — have been found by researchers to be down to the pupils’ social class more than anything else. Finally, the apparent moral advantages of faith schools have been questioned even by people of strong religious faith. Such schools effectively prevent children of different faiths, or of varyingly intense persuasion, or of no faith at all, from growing up together and learning from one another. In a system in which approximately 93 per cent of all children go through the state school system, the recent developments strengthen arguments for the separation of faith and the state in education.

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