New leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, has today expressed his support for inclusive schools in a Radio 5 Live interview with Nicky Campbell. Asked about faith schools, Mr Miliband noted that “I think it is important for people of different backgrounds and faith groups to go to school together. Many faith schools do that”.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, has welcomed Ed Miliband’s comments: ‘Ed Miliband is right to stress the importance of children from different backgrounds going to school together. Sadly however, a great many faith schools prevent those of different beliefs from attending with the result that they turn schools into religious ghettos, segregate children and divide society. It is a major breakthrough for the leader of a major political party to admit that the educational system has taken a wrong turning in encouraging faith schools.
‘This is bad for children, as they can go up with a limited understanding of those from different backgrounds, and this is bad for wider society, as it can help create an environment where mistrust between groups can more readily grow.
‘Instead the law should be changed so that all state funded schools are open to all children, regardless of their or their parents’ beliefs. Classrooms should be as diverse a place as the local area from which its pupils are drawn. It is only through this kind of shared civic life that mutual understanding between different groups will best grow.’
