The dangers of keeping the faith

The tragic news of the past few weeks - the bombings in London, the deaths and injuries they have caused and the impact on the building of a stable multicultural society - could be seen to have one common element: religious and communal separation, a separation leading to hatred.

As someone born in India, but brought up and educated in Britain, I am perhaps slightly better placed than many people to know these contradictions, dilemmas and problems at first hand. My family upbringing gave me not only a valuable introduction to the Hindu and Sikh faith and its philosophy, but a strong belief in the importance and the values of a multicultural society.

Religious bigotry for some can start early in life. And that's what frightens me. Last month, I was concerned to read that a new state-funded Hindu primary school could be opened in north-west London with the support of the local authority. Many Hindus, I well know, will rejoice at the news of the possibility of the first state-funded Hindu school, but I have to say that I do not share this enthusiasm.

I, like many of my colleagues, remain unconvinced that faith schools have any intrinsic value which outweighs the inevitable segregation they cause.

The debate around faith schools is as old as organised education itself. The first real attempt to establish a structured and municipally-run education system in this country was the scheme set up by Joseph Chamberlain in his Victorian Birmingham - a scheme which faced bitter opposition from local church schools fearing the end of their separate existence.

The debate continues. Prior to the general election this year, the then Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins spelled out the Conservative Party's continued support for faith schools funded by the taxpayer. Paradoxically, this came less than two weeks after the chief inspector of schools claimed that faith schools were "failing to teach obligation to society" and risked undermining social cohesion.

My own party also has voiced support for faith schools, and - in this region - much controversy has been engendered by the creationism implicitly endorsed by the Vardy Foundation - the sponsors of both the Emmanuel College in Gateshead and the Kings Academy in my own Middlesbrough South constituency.

Of course, there are respectable arguments for faith schools. The most forceful one is that, judged solely by academic results, they work. The upper reaches of the league tables are dominated by faith schools even though they account for just a third of primary schools and less than a fifth of secondary schools. Is this, as some argue, due to the power of religious ethos and the associated values nurtured in faith schools, or is it the result of the power of selection?

I think the answer is simple. It doesn't take much intellect to realise that schools who pick the best pupils will inevitably achieve better results. Additionally, many popular and long established British schools deemed by Ofsted to be performing well are very often Church of England or Roman Catholic denominational schools. And I know that the controversy surrounding the Kings Academy hasn't stopped parents trying to secure a place there for their children.

According to the proponents of faith schools and Government policy, it should be an issue of principle for parents to have the right to choose the kind of school they want their children to attend. But, to me, this argument is flawed by the bitter reality of the availability of places in what is effectively a rationed system. Simply, the notion of choice is illusory as most popular schools have many more applications than places each year

The notion of choice is limited, in the end, to what choice is actually available. Ideally, the delivery and quality of teaching should be of the highest standard without regional variations, something that would render 'choice' practically meaningless. This would give all children equal access to the fundamental right of a good education. Parents should realise that they might end up segregating their children from other faith groups at an early age, and therefore they must consider whether this is really healthy.

There are currently nearly 7,000 state faith schools in England, schools which receive 90 per cent of their capital costs from the taxpayer. The taxpayer also pays for their teachers. Although these schools are, in theory, bound by the national curriculum, around 60 per cent of voluntary aided faith schools teach only their own faith. There have been 145 voluntary-aided and 48 voluntary controlled schools opened in England since 1997.

But new faith schools are another matter altogether. I have to say that, in the present climate, there will, however regrettable, be apprehension about the establishment of new Muslim faith schools. There have been fears expressed in the Muslim community about the seeming ability of those who preach hate and bigotry to penetrate mosques, aided by the loose organisational structure that characterises these institutions.

To their credit, the overwhelming majority of British Muslims have taken on the extremists and have managed to cleanse some of the mosques. But this will not remove fears over what might be taught in insular and inward-looking Islamic educational establishments.

I believe it is time to examine how best to reconcile the entirely legitimate aspirations of many faiths with the need to see that bigotry and hatred are not allowed to flourish in the classroom.

A start might be to look at how religious education fits into the national curriculum to ensure that vulnerable children are given the opportunity to develop a fair and objective view of different religions and beliefs which are represented in the multi-cultural society of Britain. Allowing faith schools to teach their own version of religious education could result in children being exposed to views which could lead to the hatred of other religions.

However, it is impossible for any British government to abolish faith schools altogether, so I propose we adopt a degree of caution and reflection. The best way would be for the Government to set up a Royal Commission to look at the issue. Such an approach could mean an eminent team of educationalists and scholars being set up to listen to all the arguments, examine the curriculum, hear the views of all the faiths and to recommend judgments based on what they see as being in the best interests of both children and wider society.

I am proud to be British. I am also proud of my Indian heritage. Britain has always been a multicultural country, and people of all faiths and nationalities have played their part in making this country what it is today.

Here in the North-East, we have settled communities of people of Asian descent - some of whom, like the Somalis in South Shields, have been here for over 100 years. In Gateshead, we have probably the world's most influential centre of Orthodox Jewish teaching. On Teesside, we have a thriving community of people from the Indian sub-continent.

In history, we look at the sacrifice, in the two world wars of the last century, of the thousands of servicemen from the Commonwealth, the Indian sub-continent and from the West Indies. And today we salute the bravery of the men and women of the emergency services and the medical professions who, again regardless of ethnic or faith background, went to aid their neighbours and fellow Londoners.

The difference now is that more cultures are represented in our society, which demands that the instinctively British and liberal concept of tolerance must remain resolutely with us all. The onus rests not just on the Muslim community, but on us all to bridge the gaps between communities and assist in preserving the values of our multi-cultural society.

Racial and religious hatred has run through this world like an open sewer. It pollutes everything it touches. We must be careful - for the sake of the good name of organised religions as much as anything else - to see that this pollution is not allowed to contaminate impressionable young people.

I do not know what motivated those four young men who set off on that bright Leeds summer morning carrying their cargoes of death. But the more we split children by religion, the greater the potential for racial divisions in the future - a division which at its most extreme can lead to irrational hatred.

* Dr Ashok Kumar is Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.