Accord has welcomed the Supreme Court judgement on the admissions criteria of the JFS (formerly the Jews’ Free School), which lessens the power of state-funded faith schools to discriminate.
The case was brought by the father of a child who was denied admission to the school in 2007. The admissions policies at the time prioritised all those with a Jewish mother – whether or not they were practising Jews – over those who did practise Judaism but were not Jewish according to the Office of the Chief Rabbi. The majority verdict of the Supreme Court found that this constituted direct discrimination on grounds of ethnicity.
Accord believes that the ruling marks a small but timely step in ensuring that faith schools are more diverse and tolerant, although they are still far from being as open or inclusive as they should be.
Accord Chair, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain has written a Comment is Free article on the verdict in which he said:
“The fact is that British Jewry has several different denominations – Orthodox, Reform, Liberal, Masorti – as does the church; and just as most people regard Anglicans, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists and others as all Christian, so most Jews regard each other as fellow Jews.
This is why the case was so significant nationally and has ramifications far beyond the Jewish community. First, it highlighted the ability faith schools to discriminate against pupils that they consider to be of the wrong faith or even the wrong denomination within the same faith.
This applies to other religious schools – whether Christian, Muslim or Hindu – which are controlled by one strand of the faith and can deny access to children of other groups within it.
Second, not only was discrimination being practiced by a school which should be welcoming as supposedly befits a religious “love-your-neighbour” ethos, but in addition, the school is taxpayer funded yet seems to be just as selective as a private one.
Whether one is religious or not, many will agree that state-funded faith schools should serve not just themselves but also the community around them. JFS was adopting an approach that breached that sense of inclusivity and fair play.”
“It is certainly true that faith schools are permitted by act of parliament to discriminate in their admissions policy on religious grounds – a privilege many view as objectionable – but given this child’s obvious religious identity as a Jew, the supreme court ruled that in rejecting the child JFS was doing so not on religious grounds but because his mother was not ethnically Jewish, and therefore JFS was breaking the Race Relations Act.
It is a victory for common sense over discrimination. It was always indefensible that a Jewish school should refuse Jewish education to a Jewish child. The ruling is a slap in the face for the Jewish authorities that sought to rebuff the child. It will also serve as a wake-up call to all state-funded faith schools to honour their responsiblities to wider society.”
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