SCHOOLS: Fight to keep single sex education
MUSLIM parents in Batley are fighting to keep single-sex education in the town.
Representatives of the Indian Muslim Welfare Society and Pakistan Kashmiri Welfare Association made their views known at the full council meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall last Wednesday.
The plans, put forward by the Kirklees Conservative administration, suggest closing Batley Girls' High School and building a new co-educational school at the Batley Business and Enterprise College site in Batley Field Hill.
A new school at Birkenshaw would cater for pupils from Birstall, Birkenshaw and Gomersal.
IMWS chairman, Bashir Karolia, said: "We just want a good single-sex school, the same as everyone else, with good attainment and standards, mixed with the whole community.
"We have found pupils always achieve better in single-sex schools."
At the meeting a motion put forward by Labour and Lib Dem calling for the consultation on the plans to be scrapped, was passed.
Labour leader Coun Mehboob Khan said the Conservative proposal would only create segregation and the schools were in great need of investment.
He said: "Without investment to education in Batley and Birstall there is a great danger that it could lead to segregational schooling along the lines never seen in Kirklees, which will result in the Batley school being Asian and the Birkenshaw all white.
"The future generation of young people of different backgrounds and races will lose the opportunity to mix together."
Coun Khan said he was suggesting the Tories go back to the drawing board and allow people to assess different options available to them.
Coun Jim Dodds, cabinet member for children's services, said the council would be doing all it could to ensure the best possible deal for the children of Kirklees.
He said: "I think there has been some in-depth consultation about the issue of co-education and single-sex schools in Batley and Birstall, and people want co-education. We will work with our partners and organisations to come out with the best possible deal."
Headteacher at Batley Girls' High School, Jackie Eames, said: "I have spoken with a lot of the Muslim leaders and, though they aren't thrilled with the idea of there being no single-sex schools, most of them want the standards of quality teaching even more than they want single sex education."
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Weather for Batley
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
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