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Inside Britain's first Hindu state-funded faith school - Education News, Education - The Independent
- The pupils do yoga, eat vegetarian food and are calm and alert. But critics say the rise in religious education is divisive and wrong
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Abbie Trayler-Smith
Pupils arrive at the Krishna-Avanti Primary School in north London, where their daily routine includes yoga and healthy snacks of fresh fruit and veg
- the Krishna-Avanti Primary School in Harrow, Britain's first state-funded Hindu faith school, which opened its doors last September.
- It is one of the latest in a growing number of non-Christian faith schools. And its opening coincides with unprecedented levels of government funding for faith-based education, despite polls suggesting that public support for state-funded faith education is dwindling.
- Since Labour came to power, faith schools have broadened from being almost exclusively Christian to include Muslim, Sikh and now Hindu institutions.
- Staff at the Krishna-Avanti stressed that indoctrination is not the school's aim. Naina Parmar, the headmistress, said: "We're certainly not here to proselytise the Hindu faith" – despite morning prayers and yoga being followed by a reading of the Bhagavad Gita.
- The children here have a vegetarian diet with plenty of yoga and outdoor play. The mid-morning snack is a piece of fruit or raw vegetable – in fact, this may well be the healthiest class in Britain. The effect is impressive: all of the children seem calm and alert beyond their years, listening intently to their teacher.
- Officially, applications are open to all but priority is given to vegetarians and Hindus; there are currently no non-Hindus on the register.
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