Blair's school funding plan draws flak

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, MARCH 5. Is it right for a secular state in a multireligious society to use taxpayers' money to promote single- faith schools with their restrictive admission policy and sectarian vision?

The Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair's decision to hand out œ 42 millions in the next two years to religious groups to set up schools as part of his Government's education reforms has shocked and angered liberal opinion which believes that the move is divisive and inconsistent with Britain's multicultural ethos. Even some of the clergy have attacked it saying it would add to the divisions in the society.

By far, the strongest criticism has come from Dr. Richard Dawkins, professor of public understanding of science at Oxford University, who has warned that religious schools can be ``deeply damaging and lethally divisive.'' He blamed sectarian schooling for the divisions in Northern Ireland said it was insane to encourage schools run purely on religious lines. ``How can it be sane to advocate the existence of sectarian religious schools? And who can justify the spending of taxpayers' money on them?'' he asked in a newspaper article.

Most of the proposed funding would go to Church schools which account for the majority of denominational schools and those run by Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. Mr. Blair and his Education Secretary, Mr. David Blunkett, are strong supporters of Church schools and the Prime Minister's own sons attend the Roman Catholic London Oratory.

He believes that these schools have a greater ``sense of mission'' and combine education with ``character'' building. His Government's plans to give a boost to sectarian schools are contained in a ``green paper'' released recently amid widespread concern over the declining standards of school education.

It is a fact that Church schools are more successful compared to the Government-run comprehensives which the Prime Minister's spokesman, Mr. Alistair Campbell, famously described as having ``bog standards''. Nearly 25 per cent of the country's most successful secondary schools are run by the Church but as the `Times' Education Supplement pointed out, that this is largely because of their being able to pick and choose their pupils. ``... Selection even on purely religious grounds helps as it means they are likely to attract well-behaved children from stable backgrounds'', it said.

Children whose parents attend church services regularly and are active in the parish stand a better chance of getting a place in these schools.

``It is not enough to be a believer, you need to be actively involved in church activities if you want your child to get in'', an education expert said, pointing out that often, parents moved into an area where a good church school was located and started to be getting noticed in church circles in order to get their kids into the school.

Critics point out that any school which is allowed to pick and choose can produce good results, but this is a luxury which Government-run institutions don't enjoy.

Essentially, the criticism is focussed on the ``divisive'' nature of the policy.

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Section  : International
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