Muslim Girls' Schools — a conflict of interests?

ABSTRACT

Muslim communities in the United Kingdom are expressing an increasing discontentment with life in the UK and education is the focus of many of these concerns. This paper examines the conflicts that are exposed by the establishment of Muslim girls' schools by highlighting three main areas. The first two reveal the inadequacies of provision for Muslim pupils within the maintained sector and the problems caused for them by existing legislation. The resulting disaffection from the state system has led to the establishment of an increasing number of private Muslim schools. Over half of these are for Muslim girls and some of these are bidding for public funding. The third and final section concerns itself with a discussion of the dilemma that these schools pose for a pluralist society, its policies and its legislation.