Faith schools may provide a good education but they are bad for social cohesion, says Jonathan Romain

Trials of “Islamic extremists” may be what dominates the headlines at present, but it is a much more peaceful institutional development that could bring dire long-term problems: faith schools.

I write as a rabbi who is committed to my own faith and to passing it on to the next generation. I believe in the values of Judaism, want my own children to inherit them, and want the Jewish community at large to thrive and continue.

However, I do not want such education to be at the cost of relations between Jewish children and other children, so that mine are hidden away in a Jewish day school, have little real knowledge of other children, nor them of mine, and they all grow up as strangers to one another. It is not good for either group, and it leads to a society that has a very poor social cement.

The same applies to Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh children. Like Rapunzel locked away in her tower, they may gain an excellent academic education (the record of faith schools in this respect has to be acknowledged), but isolation is a poor teacher for later life.

The better faith schools may teach about different religions from books, but that is no substitute for children of different traditions actually seeing each other on a daily basis, mixing in class and during the break, and frequenting each other’s homes. That is what makes a society cohesive and at ease with itself.

Conversely, those who grow up apart from each other will lack knowledge and be prone to the suspicion and fear that ignorance breeds.

This is not to suggest that there are no religious or racial problems at community schools, but it is to assert that if the children do not even have the chance to meet and interact, then we are making social fissures almost inevitable and creating the basis for a fractured society.

Nor is this to deny the importance of religious education. It should be taken seriously, and the history and culture of different faiths should be an important part of the curriculum. However, religious indoctrination should be taught at home, or after school or at weekend classes as the parents see fit.

This may not be so convenient for certain religious groups, but the more Britain becomes a multi-faith society, the more critical it is that children are brought together rather than segregated. It means putting national cohesion above sectarian concerns - although that is also in the interests of religious minorities, for if there is social unrest, it is they who suffer first.

There is a real danger that the growth in faith schools today will be blamed in 30 years’ time for the social disharmony then. It is not too late to reverse that trend, if we want a society that has diversity within unity, not at the expense of it.

Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue

This article first appeared in The Guardian, 26th April 2008