Children 'exposed to extremist material' and hate-filled views in UK's illegal schools
Documents seized from unregistered schools allegedly state that homosexuality is an ‘abomination’ and sodomy is punishable by death
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Religious extremists are exposing children to an array of hate-filled material in illegal schools, it has been reported.
Documents seized from unregistered schools, and seen by The Times, allegedly state that homosexuality is an “abomination” and sodomy is punishable by death.
The extremist texts also state that a wife cannot “refuse sexual intercourse without sound reason”, and that boys and girls can marry once they have reached puberty.
The teachings also blame rape on the way women dress, claiming: “If a sweet thing is left uncovered, swarms of dirty creatures are liable to prey upon it and corrupt it.”
It has been suggested that unregistered schools – which are much harder to regulate and inspect – have been fuelled by a rise in home schooling.
The number of children being home schooled has doubled in six years to approximately 30,000, the most recent figures show.
Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, said: “I have huge concerns about unregistered schools and the lack of regulation and inspection.
“Any school of any kind shouldn’t be unregistered. There shouldn’t be room for grey areas.
“Even if they have less than five pupils and are open less than 18 hours they should be inspected and registered.”
More than 350 unregistered schools have been set up across Britain, schools watchdog Ofsted has said.
And warning notices have been issued to 50 suspected illegal schools – but no case has reached court.
Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman told the BBC News at Ten this week that the law was not “strong enough” and the watchdog wanted more investigatory powers.
She said: “We can’t even pick up evidence that we find there. If we find some unsuitable teaching material we can’t even take that away, we have to let the proprietors of the school walk out of the door with it.”
Ms Spielman has previously suggested that religious hardliners have been exploiting home schooling rules.
“If people choose to educate their children at home, once upon a time it would have been the Brighton and Totnes brigades doing their homespun thing, but we are seeing the emergence of things that nobody ever contemplated,” she told The Times.
In November 2015 the government proposed to tighten the regulation of out-of-school education settings, but this appears to have been dropped after opposition by the Church of England.
Labour peer Lord Soley has tabled legislation in the House of Lords to strengthen local authority powers over home education.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments