Failing London Ultra-Orthodox School Ordered To Close
Britain’s Department for Education has ordered a haredi Orthodox school in north London to close by next month.
The Charedi Talmud Torah Tashbar school has operated illegally for 40 years, does not teach children English and, according to inspectors, was failing to meet “minimum” standards, the Independent reported Thursday.
The school, which has more than 200 students, encourages “cultural and ethnic insularity because it is so narrow and almost exclusively rooted in the study of the Torah,” inspectors said following an investigation of the school, according to The Independent.
Inspectors said the school was founded to prevent students from “developing a wider, deeper understanding of different faiths, communities, cultures and lifestyles, including those of England.”
The school was unavailable for comment, according to the Independent.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the education department’s chief inspector of schools, said in December that the country’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills may also prosecute those running unregistered Islamic religious schools.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!