Globalisation and Muslims in london...

Muslim Schools are not only faith schools they are also bilingual schools. Bilingual Muslim children need to learn and be well versed in standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They also need to leanr and be well versed in Arabic, Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural rotts and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.

manchester islamic high school for girls paE1R 162

Globalisation means that we now all live, work or communicate with people

who are different. In this global village, religious faith plays a central

role in the way that people understand or from their culture and identity. A

Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to

become notoriously monolingual Brit.

Human being is a product of his culture, language and faith. There is a

positive co-relation between language and culture. If Muslims become

notoriously monolingual Brits than there is a likely hood that they will

adopt English culture. They will still be the underdogs of the British

society. In the past they were victim of Paki-bashing in all walks of life

by the British society becuase majority of them were not well versed in

local accents. Now Muslim youths born and educated by British education

sysytm are being victim of terrorism by British establishment. Thousands of

them are being searched by Police in streets and many of them are behind the

bar without any trial. A lot of Muslim youths are imprisoned by British

courts on the slightest excuses. The number of Muslim prisoners is on the

increase in British jails. When they come out of jail they will become real

criminals and terrorists while British foreign minister has said that

Muslims are law abiding and committed citizens.

I am concerned with the education of bilingual Muslim children. I set up the

first Muslim school in London in 1981 and now there are round about 140

Muslim schools and only 11 are state funded. I would like to see each and

every Muslim child to be in a Muslim school.

A study by Bristol University reveals that a high level of racial

segregation in Oldham schools and tension between communities resulted in

recent riots in 2001. The solution is that those schools where Muslim

children are majority, may be designated as Muslim community schools. The

native parents do not want their children to be educated along with migrant

chiildren. As soon as they find that the number of other children are on the

increase, they remove their children to those schools where native children

are in majority.

In the 70s, when I raised ithe issue of bilingualism and Muslim schools, I

was given the impression that British education system does not believe in

bilingualism. According to varities of studies, a child will suffer if

he/she finds himself cut off from his/her cultural and linguistic roots.

Arabic is our religious language and each and every Muslim must be well

versd in Quranic Arabic. This the main reason why I believe that Pakistani

parents must find marriage partners from Pakistan for their children.

Pakistani children and youths suffer more than others because they find

themselves cut off from the literature and poetry. Majority of them are not

even well versed in Standard English. This is the main rason why majority of

Pakistani children leave schools without goood qualification. English is

their economic language while Urdu is their social and emotional and Arabic

is their religious language.

There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority.

In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim Academies with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. There is no place for

a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.

Bilingual Muslim children have been in state schools for the last 50 years.

They have been suffering from Paki-bashing. They have been unable to develop

their confidence and self-esteem due to racism and bullying. This is one of

the main reason why they have been unable to achieve good grades. They have

been suffering from Identity Crises. They do not know where they belong.

Muslim school with bilingual Muslim teachers is only the answer.

Iftikhar Ahmad

London School of Islamics Trust

http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk