February
16, 2008 All-White or
All-Asian Schools
Should be Avoided By Dipankar
De Sarkar
London
Schools with overwhelmingly white or Asian children are likely to be
breeding grounds for extremism and damage community relations in
Britain, says a new government-sponsored report.
Arguing for efforts to foster greater interaction between children
of different races and religions, the report by Lancaster University
in northern England says all-white or all-Asian schools should be
avoided wherever possible.
The report, which holds important policy lessons for the government,
is the result of a two-year research project funded by the British
home ministry and the department for communities and local
government. It was commissioned after violent racial rioting between
whites and Asians in the northern towns of Burnley, Oldham and
Bradford in the summer of 2001.
The rioting shocked the nation and was ascribed to race, religious
and class differences.
As part of the study, more than 400 15-year-olds were questioned
about their attitudes toward race, religion and cultural integration
in the summer term of 2006. They came from three non-religious
schools, all in poor areas - one in Burnley attended mostly by white
pupils and two schools in Blackburn, where one had mostly Indian or
Pakistani pupils and the other was ethnically mixed.
The Lancaster University report found that a significant proportion
of pupils from the predominantly white school exhibited "illiberal
and anti-integrationists attitudes" while those from the
predominantly Asian school were liberal and tolerant.
The report's authors come out strongly in favour of mixed schools,
swimming against the tide in a country where state-funded
faith-based schools - schools that are meant for students from a
particular religion - were promoted by former prime minister Tony
Blair.
"The mixed school should be seen as a form of interfaith activity in
itself and probably the most effective in ameliorating illiberal
attitudes among some young white people and helping young
Asian/Muslims to encounter and learn how to deal with racism and
prejudice in their early lives - in the classroom and the playground
- while they have helpful adults around them," said authors Alan
Billings and Andrew Holden of the university's religious studies
department.
"Mono-cultural school in towns like Burnley should be avoided
wherever possible and where this is not possible, attempts should be
made to bring young people together from the different communities
as part of their normal school experience," they added.
The report takes on added significance as the Labour government
tries to strike a balance between religions and multiculturalism on
the one hand and modern, liberal and secular politics on the other.
With Muslims numbering more than 1.6 million in a population of 60.7
million, many Britons on the traditional right have been calling for
greater integration rather diversity.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the
Church of England - the main faith in Britain - stirred a
controversy last week by speculating that certain aspects of Islamic
Sharia law may be "unavoidable" in Britain.
The report also argued that interfaith activities played an
important part in bringing people of different faiths, cultures and
ethnicities together and should be supported in order to build
partnerships that also include secular groups.
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