BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker
A former Charedi school pupil has told a group of MPs and peers investigating fundamentalism that he received just half an hour of secular tuition a day.
The ex-student, who went to an independent strictly Orthodox school in Stamford Hill, London, briefed a closed session of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) last week.
He spoke of "the difficulty in leaving the community, as individuals are trapped by their lack of education or even speaking English and so feel unable to survive in the wider world," reported the British Humanist Association, which acts as the secretariat to the APPHG.
The BHA has lobbied for reform of faith schools, arguing that state-aided religious institutions should be open to all, regardless of faith, and teach a range of beliefs, including humanism, rather than just their own.
The APPHG also heard from representatives of other faiths.
Another ex-Charedi pupil, who attended the meeting, said afterwards that the issue with some Orthodox schools was "not what they do teach but what's missing from their curriculum".
Jewish organisations did not want to address the problem, he claimed. "From our perspective, the usual channels are shut doors. The Board of Deputies does not want to harm its relations with the Charedi community."