Illegal Schools

The Education Secretary says she wants to "eradicate" illegal schools as part of a drive to "tackle extremism in all its forms."

17:51 14 December 2015

Nicky Morgan demanded Ofstead to prepare prosecution cases against the founders of three unregistered schools in Birmingham. She said that she wants to eradicate schools that are illegally set up with a narrow Islam-focused curriculum as part of the Government’s commitment to "tackling extremism in all its forms."

 

One of the schools is Bordesley Independent School, where inspectors found dirty mattresses and a lack of running water.

 

She said:  "Tackling extremism in all its forms is a key priority of this Government and since 2010 we have taken robust steps to tackle unregistered schools and improve safeguarding.

 

"However, we know there is more to do, and as the Prime Minister has already announced, we will introduce further powers to regulate settings which teach children intensively and to intervene and impose sanctions where there are safety, welfare or extremism concerns.

 

"In a further step, I have now asked Ofsted to prepare cases for prosecution against unregistered schools it has identified. For a child to spend a single day in one of these schools is unacceptable, and we are acting swiftly and decisively to eradicate them."