Unregistered yeshivas among those identified in new illegal schools investigation
Former head of Ofsted's Illegal Schools unit warns that under the current leadership of the organisation, the issue has been 'deprioritised'
The former chief inspector of Ofsted has warned that thousands of children attending unregistered schools across the country increases the likelihood that “segregation will increase, divisions will increase and extremism will increase.”
Sir Michael Wilshaw, who created Ofsted’s Illegal Schools Team in 2016 after directly seeing the issue in Birmingham, told ITV News that “we know people who haven’t been vetted or had police checks are teaching stuff that would not be allowed in mainstream schools.”
An investigation carried out by ITV News identified unregistered schools operating in a number of communities, including the strictly orthodox Jewish community. An individual whose name was given as “Moshi” – changed due to worries about being identified within his community – told the network that the majority of boys attending unregistered yeshivas are left illiterate and innumerate at the age of 16.
“They don’t learn any skills, nothing,” he told ITV News. “No computers, no science, not even basic maths.
“These boys don’t know their timetables when they leave school at 16. They can do ABCs like little children, they don’t know what a paragraph means. It’s very painful to speak about it.”
Other former attendees of unregistered yeshivas told the news channel that they struggle to communicate in English and have had a hard time finding work.
“Moshi” also described how “the yeshiva system isn’t being regulated in any way, shape or form.
“It’s completely under the radar, nobody is checking or vetting the teachers, there’s no training.”
He said public criticism of the system was impossible because it would lead to ostracization, because “To speak out to someone outside of the community, it’s considered one of the biggest crimes you can do”.
Unregistered Christian and Muslim schools were also identified, with issues highlighted including squalid learning environments, high questionable curriculums and little or no safeguarding.
ITV News said there had been 1,839 Ofsted investigations into suspected illegal schools over the last decade, since the organisation created a specific illegal schools team. The highest number is in London, with 335 investigations, and in Yorkshire, where there have been 266.
Of those inspected, almost a fifth were religious schools and predominantly Christian, Jewish and Muslim.
The news channel also spoke to Victor Shafiee, who recently retired as head of Ofsted’s illegal schools unit after a decade at the helm. He warned that under the organisation’s current leadership the unit had been “deprioritised”, saying that “year on year the budget for this work under the new chief inspector has been cut.
“I’m really worried about it. I fear children being radicalised, I fear children’s lives being destroyed.”
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