Threat to pupils: 100 illegal schools uncovered
Ofsted has warned, ‘Thousands more children than previously thought are at risk of harm and indoctrination in illegal madrassas and faith schools.’ Inspectors uncovered 100 ‘underground’ schools across Britain, many catering to very religious communities. A third of illegal schools were Muslim, and one-sixth either Christian or Jewish. Others were private, non-religious schools. Investigators were deeply alarmed by sub-standard education which undermined Government efforts to ensure schools promote British values. In a drive to crack down on radicalising pupils, new rules state that schools must promote tolerance of other faiths and lifestyles. The illegal schools have not registered with the Government and so are not subject to any regulation. Ofsted said that pupils attending these schools may be at significant risk of harm and indoctrination. Inspections revealed serious fire hazards, and unsafe and unhygienic premises. Ofsted believes that unregistered schools uncovered so far are a small proportion of the total of those operating.
Detained British-Iranian woman - update
Last week we prayed for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British charity worker who was arrested at Baghdad airport and held in solitary confinement without charge. A campaign to free her was instigated with a petition to David Cameron to act on her behalf. On Thursday Nazanin’s husband Richard wrote on his blog, ‘I was not planning an update - but I wanted to share. Nazanin told her family a few hours ago that she has been moved out of solitary confinement, and is now kept in a group cell. More details will follow when I have spoken to the family, but it is a happy day. Thank you to everyone who has made that happen.’ Next week he is going to Brussels to petition about her case.
Midwives head in abortion row
Cathy Warwick, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, has been attacked for her decision to give the union's backing to a campaign to scrap the abortion time limit without consulting its members. She chairs the board of trustees at British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which assists 65,000 women a year with birth control, and believes that abortions should be removed from criminal law. Peter Saunders, CEO of the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF), has called this decision ‘absolutely appalling’ and called for her resignation. Mr Saunders said, ‘It looks like a personal crusade; she wants to decriminalise it all together. This is astonishing from an organisation whose very motto is that life is the gift of God.’ New research by the World Health Organisation shows that one in four pregnancies now end in abortion – that is 56 million abortions every year worldwide. Official figures released by the Department of Health on Wednesday revealed that abortions across England and Wales in 2015 have reached a five-year high. See:
Archbishop’s call to end AIDS by 2030
The Archbishop of Canterbury has given his strong support to the work of community-based responses to the global AIDS epidemic. In a video message released before next month’s High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS (8-10 June), Archbishop Justin Welby celebrates the great progress that has been made to eliminate AIDS as a threatening global disease by 2030, and calls for a ‘great further step’ - the mobilisation of ‘political, financial, technical and clinical resources through communities’ to make this a reality. He praises the role of communities, particularly faith-based communities, in providing treatment for the poor and marginalised. The Archbishop highlights the role the Anglican Communion has played for many years in offering community-based treatment, ‘enabling communities to…support the victims of AIDS, their families, and others affected directly and indirectly’.
