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| Britain |
| Labour Party VAT hike threatens future of UK Islamic schools |
| 2024-08-18 |
| [NEWARAB] As Britannia watched on with bated breath during this historic General Election, there was one conspicuously spotlighted demographic for whom Labour's win was met with rightful trepidation. British Moslems, 6.5% of the population in England and Wales, have a long and checkered history with the Labour Party, made only more fraught following recent geopolitical and domestic events. Labour's reluctance to court the disaffected Moslem vote, and their reticence on Moslem concerns throughout campaigning, was felt abjectly by the diverse group of communities that make up this segment of the electorate. Overwhelmingly from ethnic minority and economically deprived backgrounds -- a fact which exemplifies this electoral neglect -- historically, Moslems had forged a kind of political home in a begrudging Labour party, that waned rapidly in recent months following domestic responses to the war on Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppressionand disproportionate response... While much of Britannia was keen to see what ‘anyone but the Conservatives' had to offer the country, Moslems had expressed a jaded sense of anticipation for what the incumbent government would do for them. Labour's flagship policy in education is, adverse to its stated aim, already proving to disadvantage less-privileged Moslem communities. 'UNFAIR TAX BREAK' In a move welcomed by much of the British public, Labour will make all private school fees subject to VAT from January 2025, declaring the erstwhile exemption of a service used predominately by the rich an ‘unfair tax break'. Designed to ensure those families at the top of the economic food chain are giving back to the country, and in particular an education sector beset with funding-related issues, the policy is projected to raise 1.6 billion a year in extra tax revenue, a net gain that would allow for more than 2% increase in state school funding. Ostensibly, Labour's planned VAT inclusion makes economic and social sense. The hidden cost of this to a small subset of the sector, however, could be catastrophic. Private, British Islamic schools would catch the sharp end of this blanket policy approach, with devastating consequences to the sector on the lam. The average school fees charged by the 2,500 private schools in the UK %u2013 educating 6% of the British population %u2013 is 15,200 a year, with more exclusive schools such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester College charging closer to 50,000 a year. Compare this to the minuscule private Islamic school sector, consisting of approximately 155 community schools across the country, the majority of which charge fees a fraction of the 10,000 a year bottom average within the wider sector, and which faces possible near-extinction due to these tax changes. Islamic independent schools in the UK are entirely community-led and based %u2013 a tradition that carries through from the first Islamic schools established in the UK, Islamia Primary in North-West London and al-Furqan in Birmingham, in response to local needs. They are a true anomaly within the broader independent school sector, both because of the economic make-up of the communities they serve, and the aims and objectives of their institutions. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Misogyny to be treated as extremism by UK government |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-08-18 11:46 |
| #1 I'm sure there will be a special arrangement for Islamic schools. |
| Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-08-18 05:07 |