SCOTLAND’S only Muslim school was yesterday warned it faces closure in six months after it was severely criticised in a damning report by inspectors.
The report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMI) said the quality of learning and teaching at the all-girls Imam Muhammed Zakariya School, in Dundee, was "very poor" and needed to be improved as an urgent priority.
It also said that apart from the headteacher, all of the school staff were aged 20 or under. None had any teaching or child-care qualifications.
Pupils at the independent school had little contact with the outside world and were confined to the inside of the small school building and its garden for two weeks at a time, according to the report.
"Overall, the girls had few opportunities for personal and social development," the report said. "They were not being encouraged to develop a broad experience of citizenship or prepare themselves as British Muslims living in a culturally diverse society.
"Community links were weak and pupils had very limited opportunities to mix with others of their own age from outside the school."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Executive said the school, which was warned about its performance in another report in September 2002, had six months to improve or it would have its licence withdrawn, effectively shutting it down: "To ensure that all pupils get the quality of education that they deserve, improvements obviously have to be made at the school," she said. "That is why ministers have served a notice of complaint that gives them six months to comply.
"The notice includes a list of concerns and the actions that the school has to take to address these. If a school doesn’t comply with the requirements of a notice, then ministers can order it to be removed from the register of independent schools and that, in effect, means the school will close."
The school opened in August 2001, in a former nursing home, with the aim of teaching girls of secondary school age to be an Aalimah, or Muslim scholar.
The HMI report was conducted between July and December last year, at which time there were 20 students on the roll, 16 resident and four attending as day pupils.
Pupils told the inspectors they were happy, while the report said the atmosphere inside the school was pleasant and welcoming and that the standard of accommodation was largely good.
However, it found that staffing arrangements for pupils’ care and education and the resources available for teaching the curriculum were unsatisfactory.
The report also criticised the resources made available for the girls who boarded at the school, pointing out that there were only limited areas set aside for exercise. Newspapers were not available and there was no television. The quality of learning was "unsatisfactory in all classes", the report said, with insufficient interaction between pupils and teachers. Assessment of pupils’ progress was also limited, with tests being set at the end of each term in Islamic studies but only once a year in secular subjects such as English and maths.
The staff received insufficient support from the school’s manager and headteacher, neither of whom had any qualifications in teaching or the care of young people.
The report identified eight areas where it said the school and its board of trustees had to make major improvements.
Despite the criticisms, the school’s manager, Zuber Latif Karim, said he was confident they could make the necessary improvements to safeguard its future.
"I believe it is a fair report. The school will sit down and will try to fulfil all the requirements put forward by the HMI as well as the requirements put forward by the Executive," he said.
Another Muslim school, Iqra Academy in Glasgow, closed following a scathing HMI report a year ago.
Campaigners said yesterday that the latest report demonstrated the need for Scotland to have Muslim state schools.
Osama Saeed, of the Campaign for Muslim Schools, said: "All the trappings and safeguards such a school would bring would attract the best teachers, bringing an excellent standard of education, and churning out exemplary Muslim citizens all of Scotland can be proud of."