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Government warned: scrap Schools Bill or we'll take legal action

Planned regulation of yeshivot has provoked widespread opposition in the Charedi community

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Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Community gather in Parliament Square to protest against the Department for Education to raise awareness of the Schools Bill currently being prepared in Parliament whcih seeks to introduce changes the fundiments of religious education. 07th September 2022, London, UK PHOTO:JEFF GILBERT

A campaign group backed by members of the Charedi community has warned Education Secretary Kit Malthouse it will take legal action unless the Schools Bill is scrapped.

The controversial bill would introduce regulation of out-of-school settings such as yeshivot as well as greater scrutiny of home-schooled children.

In a statement posted on the scraptheschoolsbill website and signed by “homeschooling parents”, the group said since the bill has yet to be scrapped, “we are left with no other choice but to undertake formal legal action. We have engaged a top team of solicitors and intend to take legal action.”

They added they were “very well funded, and we will leave no stone unturned until justice shall prevail”.

The Bill is intended to close loopholes which have enabled an estimated 1,500 Charedi boys from 13 to 16 in Hackney to learn in unregulated yeshivot.

If it passed into law, they would be treated as independent schools and forced to teach secular subjects as well as offer relationships and sex education.

Charedi activists have already held a number of demonstrations in central London against the Bill.

Recent media reports have suggested the Bill could be dropped as the new Liz Truss-led government grapples with more pressing issues.

A large chunk of the bill relating to the oversight of academies was already ditched a few weeks ago after criticism in the Lords.

According to one Charedi activist, the Scrap the Schools Bill campaign has brought together “numerous religious groups and concerned home-schooling parents”.

Mr Malthouse is the fourth Education Secretary this year.

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