Muslim Schools

Submitted by Iftikhar Ahmad (United Kingdom), Apr 13, 2008 at 04:39

Salaam

Muslim schools are not only faith schools but they are more or less bilingual schools.

Bilingual Muslim children need to learn standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve
humanity. They need to be well versed in Arabic to recite and understand the Holy Quran. They need to be well versed in Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.

Bilingualism is an asset but the British schooling regards it as a problem. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. Pakistan is only seven hours from London and majority of British Muslims are from Pakistan.

More than third of British Muslim have no qualifications. British school system has been failing large number of Muslims children for the last 60 years. Muslim scholars see the pursuit of knowledge as a duty, with the Quran containing several verses to the rewards of learning. 33% of British Muslims of working age have no qualifications and Muslims are also the least likely to have degrees or equivalent qualifications. Most of estimated 500,000 Muslim school-aged pupils in England and Wales are educated in the state system with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. Majority of them are underachievers because they are at a wrong place at a wrong time.

Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. As far as higher education is concerned, Muslim students can be educated with others.

You better concentrate on native children for their proper education. Let Muslim community educate its own children so that they can develop their own Islamic, cultural and linguistic identities.

We are living in an English speaking country and English is an international language, therefore, we want our children to learn and be well versed in standard English and at the same time well versed in Arabic, Urdu and Arabic languages. Is there anything wrong with this approach?

Iftikhar

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