A voluntary code of conduct to regulate teaching in madrasas in Britain is due to be announced next month by the education secretary, Michael Gove.
Over the past decade, ministers from all parties have expressed unease at the inability to regulate teaching in the schools, which offer supplementary education outside of mainstream schooling. But they have held back partly due to the amount of regulation that would be required.
The plans have emerged as an Ofsted inquiry continues into claims of an attempt by Islamist extremists to take over as many as 21 schools in Birmingham, a charge that is strongly rejected by many in Birmingham.
[A COMMENT] Is there no way we can stop what is proven to be a problem everywhere?
[ANOTHER] I've got a better idea - don't allow them at all, they are a recipe for narrow mindedness and stupidity. If people want to organise these things they can open after normal school hours, as a supplement to 21st century education not as a replacement for it.
If you want to see the damage these places do, look at Pakistan, and at India, where the BJP has profited from the fact that thousands of the Hindu equivalents were opened in the 80s and 90s. [The Guardian] Read more
