Maslaha and Education
Inequalities still persist for young Muslims being educated in the UK today. In 2009, 38 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi children attained a good level of development at the Foundation Stage Profile – 12 percentage points lower than the national average. At GCSE level, 43 per cent of Pakistani students achieved five or more GCSEs graded A*-C, compared with 51 per cent of White British students, and 72 per cent of Chinese students.
Evidence suggests that this disparity is liked specifically to religion, not just to ethnicity. Within ethnic groups, the attainment gap between Muslim and non-Muslim students persists. The National Equality Panel report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK, noted that Indian Hindu and Sikh girls achieved on average one more GCSE graded A*-C than Indian Muslim girls, and two more than Pakistani Muslim girls.
Of those who leave school at age 16, Bangladeshi and Pakistani young people are half as likely to participate in adult learning as their White counterparts (29 per cent and 34 per cent, compared to 63 per cent). Young Muslims are more likely to be not in employment, education or training (NEET) by age 19-21 than Christian young people (28 per cent, compared to an average of 23 per cent). By age 22-24, 42 per cent of all those who are NEET are Muslim.
This evidence strongly suggests that the British education systems could do much more to engage with Muslim pupils.
