The regulation of UK Madrassas is long overdue, but Muslim parents won’t like to admit that

Under the plans, any out-of-school setting providing intensive education would be required to register and be open to inspection.

Consultations on the plans is set to run until 11 January which aims to gather more information on the number and variety of out-of-school settings.

The majority of Muslim children attend their local mosque at least two hours a day to learn Arabic and the Quran.

Whilst some mosques have now modernised, many have stuck to specific teaching methods.

There are many good examples of madrassas being taken over by English speaking, British born Muslims who want to ensure their children get a good education.

Many are run as efficiently, if not more efficiently than private schools. They have staff sometimes working with limited resources working hard to ensure teaching is of a high standard and parents are kept well informed of their child’s development.

But this is not the case in a fair share of Madrassas.

Many Muslims growing-up in the eighties and nineties will be familiar with settings where they were beaten by non-English speaking teachers who also took on the role of Imams.

Muslim parents may not publicly say they want the government to be making random inspections and ensuring madrassas were registered properly. But privately there is a huge concerns about how madrassas are run.

Some Muslims may say this is a new level of intrusion into the Muslim community and the government is using continuing 'terror threats' as an excuse to spy on Madrassas and Mosques.

But if you have a child in a Madrassa would you not want the best for him or her in terms of safety?

Parents simply have their hands tied as it is difficult to find a suitable place for one’s child. Some parents are spoken to us of their frustration over the lack of accountability some Madrassas have.

One woman who has two children in a local Lancashire mosque said, “As a parent you really can’t let your views known. The better mosques do not have space for our kids or charge too much for their education.

“There is a two or even three tier Madrassa system now. If your mosque for whatever reason has not modernised then what do you do?

“I’m not saying modernised in terms of refurbishments but in terms of teaching resources and staffing.

“If you make too much noise then your child can be expelled citing unreasonable behaviour.”

Under new plans corporal punishment would be banned but it is the issue of "promoting extreme views" or anything that is deemed incompatible with fundamental British values that may cause issues.

In some mosques new English speaking teachers are well versed in espousing views that may well be deemed ‘extreme. For example children are told they are not to celebrate Christmas or for that matter that fireworks are ‘haram’.

Other children are told that habits of other religious sects are to be shunned.

In the current political climate certain things may be seen as ‘radical’. Who is say what is extreme and what isn’t?

Mosques run by specific schools of thought are staffed by teachers who will ensure their children are taught Islamic ideals that they themselves learnt.

You can’t expect a teacher who has been brought up believing one set of ideals to suddenly change his or her approach because it is not deemed ‘British’ enough.

Another parent told us, “It is not the male teachers but more the female teachers. And these are British born teachers who will follow school of thought completely and without question.

“In some Madrassas you have female teachers, I’m sorry to say who by any standards would be seen as extreme.

“My own daughter tells me what happens in class. Teachers telling kids that they should not be watching television and how elements of British culture are haram.

"What can you say as a parent? You can stand there and complain and it seems you are not being a good enough Muslim or that you don't understand religion as much as they do.

“How do they intend to regulate this?

“This is common complaints I hear from other parents.”

In many cases accountability does not lie with the madrassa committees any longer. Many madrassas find it difficult to find qualified teachers and may settle for unqualified staff who lack training.

The majority of Madrassa teachers do the job to help their local mosque and are paid very little.

The bigger mosques attract the better teachers but the smaller mosques may find they are at the mercy of the teachers and the imam.

Imams and religious leaders are able to wield more influence on how their Madrassas are run. Parents are not able to challenge that authority so any new regulations will privately be welcomed.