SITE DES "LIBRES-PENSEURS" BRITANNIQUES (NSS)

Indoctrination centres allowed to operate unchecked

CENTRES D'ENDOCTRINEMENT MUSULMANS AU ROYAUME-UNI

A Birmingham MP has expressed concern that dozens of madrassas — so-called Muslim schools, but in effect centres of Islamic indoctrination — are operating in the city without any official regulation.

More than 40 madrassas are known to be operating in Birmingham, some teaching up to 30 youngsters at a time, often in converted houses in residential areas.

Now Khalid Mahmood MP for Perry Barr has criticised the City council for allowing the madrassas to operate unchecked while nurseries, after school clubs and childminders all had to get official approval. Mr Mahmood said: “We don’t know the qualifications of the teaching staff, or whether they have CRB checked. In this day and age the welfare and safety of our children should be our top concern.”

The madrassas are permitted to operate unchecked because, according to the Council, they fall into a “grey area”, being neither schools nor religious establishments. The only legal requirement at the moment is that they have to get planning permission and have premises approved by the fire service. Having said that, we know of complaints that they frequently don’t.

The issue arose when the council’s planning department raised concerns about the suitability of operating these madrassas from terraced houses, where they caused traffic problems.

Mr Mahmood said: “As far as I’m concerned this is an anomaly which it is up to the city council to address. They should be regulated by the children’s services committee. This loophole is due to a complete failure by the city council not having a proper structure in place to regulate them.”

The city council education spokesman said: “We have no control about what goes on inside madrassas as they are not regulated by us, or Ofsted. We are aware of about 40 in Birmingham and haven’t had any problems with them and they are well-run and comply with all health and safety requirements. But these are the ones we know about.”

A spokesman for the educational watchdog, Ofsted, said they did not inspect madrassas as they were not required to do so by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009

(www.secularism.org.uk)
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