Muslim faith school ‘bans inspectors from speaking to pupils & staff during investigation’

A MUSLIM faith school was not inspected properly by Ofsted because officials were “prohibited” from speaking to pupils or staff, the regulator has admitted. The child safety inspection fell on the same day as the Islamic festival of Eid and inspectors were allegedly told they could only speak to senior managers.

The private Zakaria Muslim Girls’ High School, in Batley, is run by the secretive Deobandi sect, which often shuns contact with non-Muslims. It is believed the sect controls around half of all Britain’s private Islamic schools

Ofsted’s initial report into the 149-pupil school stated: “It was not possible to talk to students during this visit as they and the staff were celebrating the festival of Eid.”

The report was supported by a statement from Ofsted’s National Director of Education, Sean Harford, who wrote: “The inspector did not challenge the school when they stated they were celebrating Eid and prohibited him from talking to pupils.There is no Ofsted guidance or protocol to state that inspectors will not talk to pupils during the observance of any religious festivals.”

Ofsted later admitted that not talking to children at the Batley school was “a mistake” and said it had taken “appropriate action” against the inspector.

The error came to light following Sky News investigations into Deobandi-run schools in the area including the Islamic Institute of Education and the Islamic Tarbiyah Centre, both in Dewsbury.

The Islamic Institute and the Zakaria school are both controlled by Shabbir Daji, an elder of the Deobandi missionary group Tablighi Jamaat which is based at Dewsbury’s Markazi mosque.

The Islamic Institute was re-inspected by Ofsted after inspectors allegedly failed to challenge its teaching of the strict Sharia code – it was then downgraded from “good” to “inadequate” The Islamic Tarbiyah Centre, which teaches primary school pupils in the evenings, is now under investigation by the Department for Education over its promotion of an extreme form of Islam