Schools: “promote race relations or close”
By Graeme Paton, Education Correspondent
Schools with large numbers of white pupils may be taken over or closed if they fail to promote race relations and links between different religious groups, according to Government guidance.
Those in rural areas or leafy suburbs should be twinned with ethnically mixed schools in the inner city, it suggests.
Christian faith schools should strike up partnerships with Muslim and Jewish institutions, while other community schools should organise more trips to churches, mosques and synagogues. In a move designed to stop children drifting toward extremism, all schools will have a legal duty from September to break down barriers and promote “community cohesion”.Jim Knight, the schools minister, said yesterday the rules would be enforced by Ofsted, which has the power to sack the governing body or recommend closure if schools fail to comply.
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