12-24-2006, 03:15 PM
£10m state cash for first Hindu school
Britain's first state-funded school for Hindus, which will receive guidance from the Hare Krishna movement, is to get the go ahead, backed by almost £10m of taxpayers' money.
The news is seen as a major cultural breakthrough by Britain's 600,000-strong Hindu community which has long campaigned for state-funded schools for its followers. But it has also attracted criticism from secular groups who claim that religion and education do not mix.
The Krishna-Avanti school, which will be advised by Iskcon - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna movement - will be based in Harrow, north-west London. A planning application will be submitted to the local council next month and the school is expected to open in September 2008.
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Almost 40,000 Hindus live in Harrow, comprising 20 per cent of the town's population, but the faith's leaders say their educational needs have until now been largely ignored. There are two private Hindu schools in Britain, but the Harrow school will be the first of its kind to be backed by the government.
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Critics said the government's backing for a Hindu school was another example of its enthusiasm for expanding the number of faith schools. <b> There are 4,646 Church of England and 2,041 Roman Catholic schools in the UK. There are 37 Jewish, two Sikh and nine Muslim schools, some of which are still in the process of receiving approval.</b>
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The facts behind the Faith
<b>Hinduism originated more than 3,000 years ago and its beginnings can be traced to the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan</b>. Today the religion has more than 900 million followers worldwide, most of them in India, where 80 per cent of the population regard themselves as Hindu.
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Britain's first state-funded school for Hindus, which will receive guidance from the Hare Krishna movement, is to get the go ahead, backed by almost £10m of taxpayers' money.
The news is seen as a major cultural breakthrough by Britain's 600,000-strong Hindu community which has long campaigned for state-funded schools for its followers. But it has also attracted criticism from secular groups who claim that religion and education do not mix.
The Krishna-Avanti school, which will be advised by Iskcon - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna movement - will be based in Harrow, north-west London. A planning application will be submitted to the local council next month and the school is expected to open in September 2008.
-------------
Almost 40,000 Hindus live in Harrow, comprising 20 per cent of the town's population, but the faith's leaders say their educational needs have until now been largely ignored. There are two private Hindu schools in Britain, but the Harrow school will be the first of its kind to be backed by the government.
-----------------
Critics said the government's backing for a Hindu school was another example of its enthusiasm for expanding the number of faith schools. <b> There are 4,646 Church of England and 2,041 Roman Catholic schools in the UK. There are 37 Jewish, two Sikh and nine Muslim schools, some of which are still in the process of receiving approval.</b>
------------------
The facts behind the Faith
<b>Hinduism originated more than 3,000 years ago and its beginnings can be traced to the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan</b>. Today the religion has more than 900 million followers worldwide, most of them in India, where 80 per cent of the population regard themselves as Hindu.
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