Established 1981
London School of Islamics
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
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Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667

Press Release
A bilingual Muslim teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her veil in class should be sacked, a local government minister said. She said her pupils were happy with her and never complained about the veil. She said she would remove the veil, but not in front of male colleagues. She was asked to remove the veil during lessons to improve pupil communication skills, because they were finding it difficult to hear what she was saying. She was not supposed to teach but to help the class teacher in her/his teaching. It is the job of the teacher to teach English to bilingual children.

OFSTED criticized the school for exceptionally low standards achieved by pupils, stating that most difficulties are related to speech and communication problems. The school is placed among the worst 5% of schools in the country. It is not the fault of the veil and its wearer that the school is at the bottom of the educational ladder. It is the fault of the teaching staff who are monolinguals and who are unable to communicate with the children who can’t speak English in local accent. The staff as well as the head teacher should be replaced by bilingual Muslim teachers who are in a position to impart bilingual education right from nursery level. I hope that within a couple of years the school would be at the top of the educational ladder.

Shahid Malik MP and MCB have no right to criticise the bilingual support teacher covering her face with a veil. They should criticise the LEA and monolingual staff who are not fit to teach bilingual children. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority. All such schools should have bilingual Muslim teachers as well as bilingual support staff as role models. They are in a better position to teach English, Arabic and Urdu and other community languages at the same time. British born and educated Muslim teachers are also required to teach English and other subjects.

The school has failed by the OFSTED because it never introduced bilingualism and bilingual education. OFSTED and DFE must have bilingual Muslim staff to carry out inspection according to the needs and demands of the Muslim children. Bilingual teachers are not available in this country. LEA must recruit bilingual Muslim teachers from abroad. In the 60s and 70’s, there was a shortage of teachers in state schools, hundreds of teachers were given work permits to come to teach in those inner cities rough schools where even a native teacher could not dare to teach. Now bilingual Muslim teachers are needed for Muslim children.
Iftikhar Ahmad

Wasn't school in question a Church of England school?

I had read the issue was only about her wearing a veil while in the presence of the children but was allowed to wear it everywhere else. Are children of that age below the age she would be required to wear it in front of, and so place them in the category with family members?

The other question is shouldn't the kids be speaking english at home to help with their english? Understandable if the parents have just moved to the uk or have learning problems but if the parents have been here years they should have learnt to speak english themselves, libraries are free after all...