The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain is appalled at Ofsted’s recently updated guidance on faith schools. The guidance asserts that segregation of the sexes is not a sign of inequality and that veiling is a sign of Islamic “modesty” and “identity”; it also justifies restrictions on everything from art and music to sex and health education.

The guidance helps to further normalise the Islamist agenda at a time when the Birmingham Trojan horse plot has been exposed.

CEMB calls on Ofsted to revise its guidance and put the educational needs of children before religion and the religious-Right.

All children have a right to a full education, free from restrictions and discrimination, and regardless of the nature of the school they attend – be it privately or publicly funded. Children and young adults must be recognised as equal members of society and not as “community members” with culturally relative rights.

The increasing problem surrounding faith and other religious schools highlights the importance not of “British values” but of a secular education for all.

For more information, contact:
Laylah Hussain
Maryam Namazie
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
BM Box 1919, London WC1N 3XX, UK
tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
email: exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com
web: http://ex-muslim.org.uk/

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