Posted by 
A Labour MP has bitterly attacked plans for a Muslim ‘Eton’ for girls.
The college for 1,500 pupils would be both the largest Muslim faith school and the biggest boarding school in the country – larger than 1,330-pupil Eton.
Yesterday Gordon Prentice, MP for Pendle, near the school site in Burnley, warned that it could damage existing schools and colleges in the area and stoke community tensions.
‘The last thing we need is single-sex, single faith schools for girls,’ he told the Times Educational Supplement.
‘It pulls against community cohesion. It makes me weep to think so much time, energy and effort has gone into the community to get people to mix together. [This] goes against all public policy.’
The blueprint emerged after a proposal for a 5,000-place girls’ boarding school in Pendle was dropped amid public opposition.
The Islamic charity behind the Burnley project, the Mohiuddin Trust, insists its aim is to ‘strengthen inter-community relationships’.
It is in the process of setting up Mohiuddin International Girls’ College after purchasing the former Burnley College site for £2million.
The college would cater for girls of 16 and over and teach mainstream qualifications and faith studies.
The trust wants the school to cater initially for 500 students, expanding to 1,500.
Dr Mohammed Iqbal, a Mohiuddin trustee, said: ‘At this moment it’s difficult to offer a detailed response about the courses to be offered as we are still in the preliminary planning stages.
‘We do, however, expect to offer a variety of skills and courses.
‘A-levels are being considered but may not be available as soon as the college starts.
‘Our objective is to offer young women the opportunity to empower themselves with better qualifications with the aim of improving chances of securing better employment.’
Afzal Anwar, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Pendle, said he understood that the school would be open to girls of all faiths, and would offer optional lessons in Islamic studies.
He said the plans for a 5,000- place school in Pendle were dropped after attracting ‘overwhelming local opposition’ from all communities, including a majority of Muslims.
He added: ‘There should be provision for faith schools if parents want to send their children there.’
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: ‘We have not yet been approached by the promoters of the school, so we do not know what their proposals are.
‘Any application will be scrutinised closely before the school can open.’
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1237089/MP-condemns-plan-build-Muslim-Eton-girls.html
The miracle of human variety is in danger of disappearing, if all of us speak alike, dress alike, eat the same food, read the same fiction and enjoy the same music. It would be a great loss to our colourful planet. Public sector needs a multilingual work force. Teachers and police officers can help with race relations in the classroom and in the community. Public sector is seeking multilingual recruits to serve multicultural Britain. The ability to speak languages from Arabic to Urdu is considered to be an asset. Linguistic skills, in addition to the usual entry criteria, will boost the number of recruits in teaching, police, medicine, nursing and the civil service. Bilingual teachers, police officers, doctors and nurses are in a better position to serve the bilingual Muslim community. The language system has been used successfully in the United States. Mary Doherty at TTA, points out those bilingual teachers can be particularly welcome in state schools for bilingual pupils. Various studies show that bilingualism increases overall intelligence. Monolingualism leads to isolationist and inward thinking.
Exposure to different languages and cultures can increase tolerance. Language learning in childhood lays the foundations for developing real fluency in that language. Every child should have the opportunity to study a foreign language and develop their interest in the culture of other nations. Languages can be seen as an important way of putting more fun into primary learning and of broadening the children experience. Learning a second language boosts your intellectual powers by physically increasing the number of nerve cells in the language centres of the brain. A study at University College London shows that the brains of bilingual people are structurally enhanced compared to the brains of people who can only speak one language. The effect is even more marked in people who learnt a second language before they were five. Speaking a second language is like having access to another world. No other subject expands mental horizons in the same way. In an ordinary inner city school in England, nearly 100 languages are spoken, yet still essentially this is still a monolingual nation. London is the most multicultural city in the world with over 300 languages spoken everyday.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual teachers as role models during their developmental periods. All state schools where Muslim pupils are the majority should be designated as Muslim community schools. They are in a better position to provide balanced education by teaching the National Curriculum along with Arabic, Islamic studies, Urdu and other community languages. An Islamic atmosphere will help to develop Islamic Identity crucial for mental, emotional and personality development.
Iftikhar Ahmad