Britain's first Hindu faith school opens its doors

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Britain's first Hindu faith school opens its doors, but head says it will 'not lead to racial divide'

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1055858/Britains-Hindu-faith-school-opens-doors-head-says-lead-racial-divide.html

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:21 AM on 15th September 2008

 

 

Britain's first Hindu state school opened its doors for the first time today, with education chiefs denying it will fuel racial segregation.

 

The Krishna-Avanti primary school will serve only vegetarian food and incorporate Hindu music, Sanskrit lessons and exercise techniques such as yoga into its lessons.

 

It is operating in temporary classrooms until a new £10million campus is built on playing fields in Edgware, North London. The school will eventually have its own temple.

 

Chairman of the governors Nitesh Gor said he hoped more Hindu schools would open but denied it would cause an educational rift

 

Just 25 children are starting in the first year but when all classes are filled the joint primary and nursery school will accommodate more than 200.

 

 

A ceremony was held in June to mark the start of the construction of the Krishna-Avanti Primary School

Mr Gor, director of the I-Foundation - the Hindu charity which is backing the voluntary-aided school - said: 'We have been campaigning for a state Hindu school for decades.

 

'Now finally we have a place where parents can send their kids in the knowledge that they will be taught about their culture alongside the national curriculum.

 

'These kids are British and of the Hindu faith. We are simply offering them a normal education with a Hindu background.

 

'There's nothing sinister going on. Our critics would do well to wait and see how we get on before making wild allegations and assumptions that are not true."

 

The school has chosen not to admit children from all faiths because it says there are too few places to cater for all the Hindus.

 

There are at least 90,000 in the north London boroughs of Harrow, Barnet and Brent.

Mr Gor denied that the school would fuel racial segregation. However, some education chiefs say such schools could limit childrens' knowledge of other cultures.

 

Dr Jonathan Romain, chairman of Accord, a coalition of religious and non-religious groups, said: 'Some parents will feel reassured by a school that shares their faith and cultural background.

 

'But everybody should also be aware of the impact this may have - limiting their children's knowledge of and interaction with children from other cultures, and also depriving other community schools of Hindu participation.'

 

 

A model of the school

Alistair McBay, of the National Secular Society, said: 'If you segregate people by religion you are also by definition segregating them by race. Doing this at a young age is going to condition children's friendships not just throughout school, but also throughout the rest of their lives.

 

Ejiro Ughwujabo, deputy head of St Mary's Catholic High School, in Croydon - which has a quarter non-Catholic pupil intake - said: 'The school must ensure that its pupils are taught about British culture and are educated about other faiths as well as their own.'