Strictly Orthodox protesters oppose MPs move to collect data on kids not at school

A group of Strictly Orthodox males have staged a protest outside the Department of Education headquarters in Westminster as an MP led renewed calls for data to be compiled of children not registered on official school rolls.

The Conservative MP Flick Drummond told the Commons on Tuesday that because of a lack of data “many” children who were not registered had “disappeared from the school roll” either “altogether” or “under the guise of home education.”

Presenting a ten minute rule bill, Drummond said she wished to make it clear to MPs she believed in parental choice over what education their children received but warned that many were now being given “home education not up to standard, and in some cases one which is non-existent.”

The protesters held up placards claiming the bill was “antisemitic” and that is was “attacking Torah-education.”

But as she spoke, Rabbi Asher Gratt lead the group of men in a protest, which leaflets handed out to passers-by said was being staged by “parents and leaders of the strictly orthodox Jewish community” to object to the MPs move, which they claimed would “lead to blanket surveillance of responsible parents with the government watching all the time, taking away their freedom to choose how their children get educated.”

It was claimed Drummond’s bill was an attempt to replace parts of the abandoned Schools Bill.

Quoting Rabbi Gratt, the leaflet added:”We are standing up for parents and their children who don’t want an education system that is forced upon them or changes with every new trend. We are determined to protect religious freedom. With our history of enduring persecutions we possess a heightened awareness of where this register will lead….”

But Drummond said her bill, which would introduce a Children Not In School register, would allow “local authorities to find and support children left on the fringes.”

It received the support of MPs across all parties, and will its second reading on November 24th.