Bishop says plans for Muslim school in Burnley 'makes him weep'

[Al-khiyal]

Bishop says plans for Muslim school in Burnley 'makes him weep'

December 22, 2009 -- A bishop says a plan to open Britain’s largest Muslim faith school in a town still recovering from race riots eight years ago as “makes him weep" and claims it risks creating tensions. The Rt Rev John Goddard, the Bishop of Burnley, suggested it would be more sensitive for the Islamic charity behind the project to consider a location in another part of the country. His greatest fear is that the presence of the all girls’ school – which hopes to take 1,500 teenage boarders from around the world – might inflame Right-wing extremists and therefore “skew” the progress being made in integrating local communities. The bishop also pointed out that both the Church of England hierarchy, and that of the Roman Catholic Church, deliberately held back from establishing their own new faith schools in the aftermath of the 2001 riots. Bishop Goddard’s comments follow a warning by Gordon Prentice, Labour MP for Pendle, that the school, described as a Muslim 'Eton' for girls, would both 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 said. “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 Mohiuddin Trust, based in Birmingham, insists that its college would actually strengthen ethnic and cultural relationships within the community. It was formerly known as the Al Ehya Trust, says on its website that it seeks to promote cohesion by “strengthening inter-community relationships”. It was founded by Hazrat Pir Alauddin Siddiqui, an Islamic scholar based in Pakistan. Amjad Bashir, the trust’s general secretary, said of the Burnley scheme: “This will be an international community college that will provide for the needs of Islamic women. It is not just some mad place where they are going to be brainwashed by nonsense.”

Bishop Goddard told The Daily Telegraph: “I’ve certainly got concerns, and I regret the idea of it because it distracts us from the most important task of integrating. Until other projects develop, the local schools are our best hope of delivering understanding and tolerance.” He added: “I wonder whether it is the most sensitive placing of a school. I would worry about its impact on the local community and whether it would skew the positive things that are happening here.”

Since the Burnley riots local schools have been given a £250 million makeover, with a number of closures and amalgamations. Local councils have used the changes as a means of improving relationships between ethnic groupings. Bishop Goddard recalled how in the aftermath of the riots the Church of England held back from pushing for a faith school. Similarly, the Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev Terence Brain, decided not to seek the foundation of a Catholic Sixth Form College. “We know our schools have a long way to go educationally, and we also know we have a long way to go culturally. But I think at the moment in Burnley we are in a process where we are developing our relationships with young people and we should do nothing to distract from that. I believe it would be a sadness if anyone now began moving towards a pattern of withdrawing children of one particular faith.” The bishop said he would defend the right of any faith to establish a boarding school, but added: “There would need to be a strong commitment from the college, and I wonder how exactly they plan to integrate with the local community. It is incumbent upon them to say how that would happen because we do have those who wish to disrupt the increasing level of tolerance and integration. We have to balance the right to open a new school against the need for it be carefully integrated and properly monitored by Ofsted.”

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.”

[Al-khiyal]

Charity buys Brierfield mill at centre of huge Muslim girls' school row

January 15, 2010 -- A charity behind initial proposals to convert a textile mill in Brierfield into the country's largest boarding school for Muslim girls has bought the building in a deal completed just before Christmas. Reports in the Abu Dhabi English language newspaper The National this week said Birmingham-based charity Islamic Help had met the deadline set for raising cash to buy Brierfield Mills – the former home of Smith and Nephew – and was "appealing to Muslims around the world to contribute towards the development of the site". Mohammed Masood Alam Khan, Islamic Help's chairman, was reported as saying from Pakistan (where he had been making a New Year visit), that the first step, provided planning permission was obtained, would be to transfer, as day pupils, 58 girls currently attending Ghausia Girls' High School in Cross Street, Nelson. Pendle MP Gordon Prentice said: "If the sale is confirmed, it begs a million questions. First, the Charity Commission must tell us whether Islamic Help has been operating within its charitable objects in raising money for what it claims as the UK's biggest boarding school for Muslim girls. However, the project involves turning over part of the site to other non-educational uses, such as business units. Secondly, we need to know in full the precise intentions of Islamic Help. For example, how big is the school proposed to be? Nadim Akram, a governor of Ghausia Girls' High School, told The National newspaper he would prefer the school to grow slowly, with 250 girls 'in the early stages'. What is the role of Afzal Anwar, the Liberal Democrat's Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Pendle? He is clearly the front man. Third, there are questions for the Liberal Democrat-run Pendle Council. I am in touch with the chief executive, Stephen Barnes, for clarification of a statement made by Councillor Tony Greaves in December when he said: 'The present position is that Islamic Help expect to complete the purchase in mid-January. If they do not do so, this council will make a bid for Brierfield Mills.' If, as expected, the Islamic Help purchase has gone through, there will be huge planning issues to be dealt with. This is not a straightforward matter. No way."

In a motion put before the meeting of Pendle Council in December, Councillor Greaves said: "Any changes of use or demolition or development on the site will require planning permission and the schemes will require a full appraisal of their viability. The existing planning status of Brierfield Mills is obviously as an employment site and we think this is the best future use of the site. Other uses of parts of the site may be feasible and possible, but they will have to gain planning permission. It was obvious from the discussions with Islamic Help they have a lot of ideas for the premises, but not much in the way of worked-out proposals. They were told the lack of public involvement dialogue had resulted in considerable disquiet in the community and they needed to improve their communication with both the council and residents. The council cannot prevent the purchase going ahead. If it does, they will be asked to produce proposals for the whole site and meet councillors to discuss them. This would obviously include council members representing Brierfield as well as members of the Executive. I do not think the position is satisfactory, but in the real world that is often the case and we will have to do the best we can to make sure this very important site – a huge listed building in the heart of the small town of Brierfield – has the best future we can possibly influence, which in our view means a top priority of providing as many jobs as possible." When the news of the boarding school proposals broke last year, there was talk of as many as 5,000 pupils attending, a number which provoked a massive outcry in the town.


Nice headline eh? What if the school was for 'little Muslim girls' and not 'huge ones'? Would there be the same fuss?