SRE Scrapped
Assalamualaikum,
Praise be to Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of all the worlds, the best helper and disposer of our affairs.
It has been announced that the government have abandoned its plans to make Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) Compulsory. This means that the planned introduction of compulsory SRE in all state schools by September 2011 has been shelved.
This does not mean an end to SRE in our children’s schools. SRE was being taught in schools prior to the government's intention to push through compulsory SRE. Many schools have started to implement the proposals and parents calling us for help have been told it is alreay compulsory.
Therefore we would say, it is not the time for parents to believe the threat to the Islamic identity of our children has vanished with the shelving of compulsory SRE. In schools, many headteachers/governing bodies have decided to adopt SRE. But more importantly, in the wider society the lack of values combined with a highly sexualised environment promoted by popular culture means significant dangers to our children’s Islamic identity. It is still vital that children are brought up with the Islamic values of family through marriage, hayaa (modest conduct), the need to refrain from pre-marital/extra-marital relations and all the subsidiary values and rules which spring from obedience to Allah. This is why we are still planning to develop an SRE programme for Islamic schools, madaaris (qur’an classes in the masjid), and for parents in order to inculcate these values within the Muslim community.
Finally, we would like to thank you for the part you played in the scrapping of SRE. In July 2009, we handed over a 22,000 signature petition to the QCDA, as part of the consultation into SRE. Although the response by the DCSF was to manufacture opinion through closed consultation events, our response and that of other faith organisations showed the opposition to these proposals. This followed over 45 awareness raising seminars supported by the Muslim community across the country. In the end, when the election was called, there was so much opposition to the SRE (PSHEe) provisions within the Children, Schools and Families Bill, that the government had to accept the opposition amendment in the House of Lords to pass the Bill without them. We would also like to highlight the pivotal role played by Family Education Trust (FET) and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). FET organised a letter to the Sunday Telegraph alongside SPUC, which we supported, and was signed by over 20 members of the Muslim community including mosques, Islamic schools and governors alongside hundreds of Catholics and Christians, both organisations and individuals. We would like to thank those members of the Muslim community that signed it and this was recognised as an important final step in creating opinion against the SRE provisions in the bill.
We urge parents to be as vigilant about what their children are being taught at school as they should be about what they see on television or the ideas they are moulded by in the society in which they live. We need to be members of governing bodies where these life changing decisions are made and as parents we need to have the confidence to challenge schools on what they are teaching our children. There is so much we can do to protect the values of our community, all that is required is for us to invest our time, learn the Islamic knowledge which expounds the Islamic values we want to instil in our children and act to safeguard them.
Please also consider making a donation to support the work we are doing, we will send an SRE pack to everyone that donates, which includes the SRE report for parents/governors as well as examples of SRE worksheets your children may be taught at school. A donate button can be found on our website.
We thank you for your continued support and duas.
Wassalam
Yusuf Patel
http://www.sreislamic.org
yusuf@sreislamic.org
07883 027 067
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May Allaah reward you and all those involved for your dedication and hardwork in making this possible. I am sure this is the answer to many parents duas! Alhumdulilah
The sexualisation of children by the government, Dept of Education, 'pregnancy advice centres', social workers, school nurses, media aimed at teen girls, contraceptive industry lobbyists, fashion industry and the welfare state to name just a few, is a crime against humanity.
It is also gross hypocrisy for the police to prosecute paedophiles when the government is overseeing boy scouts being given condoms from the age 11 and girls of the same age being told it is OK to have sex if they use 'protection'. Boys and girls at age 11 are not allowed to marry but they can have sex and produce children. Every parent is worried about his child being indoctrinated into the idea that gay and sexual promiscuity is "normal" modes of behaviour. At the same time, all parents have the right to control their children and it is their Duty to control them.
It is an eye opening for the Muslim parents who keep on sending their children to state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers a s role models during their developmental periods. Muslim teachers are in a better position to teach sex education to teenagers according to Islamic perspectives. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. State funded Muslim schools are crucial for social cohesion, religious and cultural harmony. They are preparing children and young people to face the challenges of life in modern Britain and to also contribute in a positive way to wider society. Muslim children will develop self-confidence and self-esteem. According to TES, pupils make more progress at Muslim secondary schools than anyother type of schools. They are promoting tolerance and support the spiritual, moral, social, linguistic and cultural development of pupils.
Iftikhar Ahmad
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Iftikhar has either not read or not understood what SRE is intended to be about. It is the sexualisation of the young by amongst others, the media, that SRE is intended to counteract. Teaching children about safe and supportive relationships, better understanding of health issues and how to plan and care for their own children is at the heart of what the SRE programme advised by the government is about. All the evidence points to a decrease in sexual activity and a delay in sexual experience amongst the young when they are better informed and empowered about making safe and responsible choices for themselves.
I myself teach at a primary school where many of the children are from an Islamic background and I endeavour to teach the children about good hygiene and the biology as they go through puberty with clear links to the Islamic guidance on this matter. How a baby is conceived is secondary science, when a baby is conceived and what awesome responsibilities that entails is secondary SRE and by seeking to remove this from schools you are taking a step backwards.
Far from Muslim schools, whether state funded or otherwise, helping social cohesion and religious harmony I can only see this leading to greater divisions and less understanding. Integration, openness and the right information at the right age are the only way forward.