UK Grants £1 Billion for Hindu Schools
BY: NABANITA SIRCIR
Nov 10, LONDON (HINDUSTAN TIMES) — Now, for the first time, a Hindu state school will be built in Harrow as part of the government announcements of grants of more than £1 billion for new school buildings across the country.
With more than 20 per cent of Harrow's population being Hindu the number totals to about 40,000. The I-Foundation, a group of British Hindu businessmen, working closely with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), were behind this project.
Their motivation was twofold: first, the belief that Hindu families, like those of other great religions, should have the chance to choose a publicly funded school for their children; second, a growing desire to anchor Hindu children more securely to the central principles of their faith.
"In recent years, we have seen a slow but steady deterioration of cultural and spiritual values in the Hindu community," says Nitesh Gor, a director of the I-Foundation. "In the 1960s and 1970s, when Hindu communities were establishing themselves in the UK, there was a concentration on material endeavour, and our values were not the prime focus."
However, the Harrow Council's backed the project after extended debate and persuasion. Given the likely popularity of the project there were fears it would draw children away from other local state schools, thereby destabilising the local education landscape, as there is a surplus of more than 2,000 primary places in the borough.
Also, the Department for Education and Skills' rules for the allocation of grants for new schools requires that there be a "pressing need" for the investment. Bill Stevenson, the Labour councillor responsible for education in Harrow, while acknowledging the sensitivity of the Hindu request, supported it because of his belief that the large concentration of Hindu families locally deserved the same choices as their neighbours.
Harrow already has one Jewish and 10 Christian state schools. The slow growth of the new school will ensure the effect on neighbouring schools will not be destabilising. In the first year it will take only one-year-old children, and increase in size thereafter by only one class a year, until it has children up to the age of 11, and reaches its capacity of about 240 pupils.
Stevenson says the head teachers of primary and secondary schools in Harrow who were all consulted, have shown broad support for the idea of a new Hindu school. These consultations will continue into the planning and building phase. The council also emphasises what it sees as the benefits of having a Hindu school in a borough where 55 per cent of school-age children are from ethnic-minority backgrounds.
"The school will be an integral part of a partnership and a mosaic of local schools working with everyone, irrespective of faith and cultural background," says Stevenson.
Like other state schools this one will teach the full national curriculum, but in an atmosphere where Hinduism is prominent for much of the day. Every morning there will be an assembly with Hindu prayers.
Gor says: "Even within the national curriculum, we will be looking to intertwine Hindu values and messages." For instance, he says Hinduism's core belief is that humanity should be close to nature and the environment, which can manifest itself in science and geography lessons, as well as in the environmentally friendly use of materials throughout the school.
Another strong theme in the school, based on Hindu values will be the promotion of good behaviour and character, a recognition of the growing problem some mainstream state schools are experiencing in the area.
The school will have a practising Hindu as head teacher. However the same criteria will not interfere with the central pursuit of academic excellence. "If we find it difficult to appoint a very good maths teacher who is a Hindu, we will just appoint a very good maths teacher," says Gor.
Close to Harrow is the headquarters of ISKCON, where 25 children, aged four to 11, are already having an educational experience that is being planned for the new school. In fact, the "faith adviser" to the Harrow school is Gauri Das, president of the Watford temple and spiritual commissioner for the Hindu Forum of Britain. He says, "We believe in creating holistic, contributing members of society, who understand spirituality and life's purpose."
