UK wants to shut down religious schools teaching intolerance
Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday announced a major crackdown on madrassas and other religious schools in the UK that teach children intolerance, warning that they will be shut down. Cameron, speaking at the annual Conservative party conference in Manchester, promised to open up these religious schools to scrutiny, reports PTI.
"Did you know, in our country, there are some children who spend several hours each day at a madrassa? Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with children learning about their faith, whether it's at madrassas, Sunday schools or Jewish yeshivas.
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," the Conservative party leader told his party delegates.
"These children should be having their minds opened, their horizons broadened, not having their heads filled with poison and their hearts filled with hate. So I can announce this today: if an institution is teaching children intensively, then whatever its religion, we will, like any other school, make it register so it can be inspected. And be in no doubt: if you are teaching intolerance, we will shut you down," he said.
The Conservative British Prime Minister went on to make a direct attack on the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, as "terrorist-sympathising" and got a standing ovation from Conservative members. "Thousands of words have been written about the new Labour leader. But you only really need to know one thing: he thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a 'tragedy'. We cannot let that man inflict his security threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love," he said.
In the speech, Cameron said he would create a "Greater Britain" before leaving office before the 2020 national election.