Religious institutions will shut down if found promoting hatred: David Cameron

At the Conservative Party Conference at Manchester on Wednesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced the inspection and closing down of Islamic schools if they are found sowing seeds of hatred among students.

There are no problems with schools teaching pupils about their faith and beliefs, but they must not fill their minds with poison, Cameron said in his speech at the conference.

“Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with children learning about their faith, whether it’s at madrassas, Sunday schools or Jewish yeshivas,” the prime minister. “But in some madrassas, we’ve got children being taught that they shouldn’t mix with people of other religions; being beaten; swallowing conspiracy theories about Jewish people.”

In his speech, Cameron warned schools of registering themselves for strict inspection, no matter which religion they belonged to. “And be in no doubt: if you are teaching intolerance, we will shut you down,” Cameron said.

The Muslim Council has taken this initiative very well and has shown concerns about the PM’s plans.

Cameron also attacked Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn during his speech, saying, “We cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love.”

However, Corbyn’s spokesman has defended his leader and said that the personal attack made by the PM on Corbyn was an indication of insecurity caused to Cameron as the Labour Party seems to re-energise once again.

According to an IPPR report released in 2011, about 250,000 Muslim students attended around 2,000 madrassas in the UK, which are not supervised by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. Ofsted is concerned with inspecting and regulating child care services as well as educational facilities provided to students belonging to varied age groups.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au, or let us know what you think below.