Segregation in religious schools ‘rife’

The findings from the British Humanist Association (BHA) suggest that segregation is more of an issue in what it described as “minority religious” schools.

Its research reveals that while the average Muslim, Hindu and Sikh school is situated in an area where a third of the local population is “white British”, most have no “white British” pupils at all, while the rest have only one or two at most.

At the same time, the country’s Jewish schools serve areas where 12 per cent of the local population is of Asian background but most Jewish state schools have no “Asian” pupils at all, the BHA says.

The research also showed that of 1,985 Roman Catholic schools in the country, 245 have no “Asian” pupils, and Catholic schools typically have 4.4 percentage points fewer “Asian” pupils than would be expected for schools in their areas.

The findings are based on the most recent available data, using January 2013 figures for school populations and the 2011 Census for local area populations.