Critics have slammed the uniform policy as “fundamentally wrong” and raised the alarm over the school’s taxpayer-funded status.
Barnet Hill Academy will switch to a taxpayer-funded model this academic year (Image: -)
Conservative MPs have raised “deep concerns” over a UK school “forcing female pupils to wear hijabs“. Barnet Hill Academy, an independent Islamic faith school in West Hendon, London, will switch from a fee-paying model to a state-funded “voluntary aided” establishment at the start of the new academic year.
Critics have hit out at the decision to allocate taxpayer funding to a school “that forces girls as young as seven to wear the hijab”, however. Laura Trott, shadow secretary of state for education, and Joy Morrissey, shadow minister for women and equalities, described the situation as “fundamentally wrong” in a letter to Labour-run Barnet Council.
“We are extremely concerned about the relationship between the school’s policy and its obligations now as a publicly-funded school to admit children of other faiths or no faith,” they said.
The school’s policy states that girls over a certain age must wear hijabs (Image: Getty)
The letter continued: “Barnet Hill Academy’s published uniform policy states that a hijab is ‘compulsory’ for girls from Year 3 and lists it alongside other required items of school uniform. Nowhere does the policy state that non-Muslim pupils are exempt.”
The guidelines state that non-compliance could result in children being sent home and required to return in full school uniform.
A council spokesperson described the policy as “legally compliant and non-compulsory for non-Muslim pupils”, however.
Ms Trott and Ms Morrissey said this qualification “appears nowhere in the published policy” and warned that the discrepancy “raises serious questions about the scrutiny undertaken by the council before approving the school’s entry into the state-funded sector”.
Stephen Evans, chief executive of the National Secular Society, also said it was “appalling that taxpayers are being asked to fund” the establishment.
He added: “Women should be free to choose religious dress; young girls should not have it imposed upon them.
“State-funded schools should bring children together, not divide them by faith and, by extension, ethnicity. The council must pause the implementation of this decision and subject this proposal to proper public and democratic scrutiny.”
According to the 2021 Census, Barnet was home to around 47,700 Muslims, accounting for just over 12% of the borough’s population.
The Express has contacted Barnet Hill Academy for comment.