Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ultra-Orthodox School That Refuses To Teach English Defies Brit Order To Close

British education watchdogs last month ordered an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school to close its doors for refusing to teach English, but it defiantly remains open.

The Evening Standard reported Thursday that kids with backpacks continue to enter and leave Talmud Torah Tashbar in North London everyday.

“I didn’t know it had been told to close, kids are still going in and out at all times, there’s been no difference,” a nearby resident told the paper.

Despite it being slated for closure by Feb. 12, neighbors told the Standard that they still see children with backpacks and buses outside the school each day.

Investigators from the Department of Education inspected Talmud Torah Tashbar in North London last year and found that the 200 students were only taught in Hebrew, failing to met minimum standards. The investigation also showed that the school was unregistered and had been operating illegally for 40 years.

The Independent requested school reports under Freedom of Information and found that the school states that it does not allow children to learn English as a religious principle nor will it provide a secular education.

“Every year that these schools remain open, thousands of children continue to be subjected to indoctrination, and the denial of even the most basic learning beyond the study of scripture,” Jay Harman, of the British Humanist Association told the Standard.

The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) had initially been told that the use of the school was changed to a community center and that the children were being homeschooled. A new probe has been launched.

OFSTED is also escalating investigations into unregistered schools. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Chief Inspector of Schools, says that they might prosecute unregistered Islamic schools as well.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.