The proposals have been made in a Muslim Council of Britain reportcalled Greater Understanding: Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils inState Schools.
The report offers guidance on improving school life for Muslimchildren.
In relation to school meals, the report recommends halal meals areincorporated in all meal policies, staff are trained in its preparation,meat is sourced from halal suppliers and halal food is storedseparately. Already some schools are offering a choice of halal mealsbut others have decided to run a halal-only kitchen, offering halalmeals to all pupils including non-Muslims.
Farm Animal Welfare Council assistant secretary Richard Aram says thatwhile the report's recommendations should be "straightforward" for manyschools to adopt, moves to offer only halal food should happen afterconsultation.
Aram said: "The way animals are slaughtered for halal meals, by notbeing stunned, may not meet everyone's approval."
The Muslim Council's report also recommends that all halal food isclearly labelled, a move that is backed by Aram, who adds: "It is vitalthat parents and pupils are kept informed of what they are eating sothey can make their own choices."
Tahir Alam, chair of the Muslim Council's education committee and authorof the report, said: "Children should be offered the choice of halalfood, which in many schools is not happening. Hotels and restaurants areable to offer halal and kosher meals, so why not schools?"
The National Association of Head Teachers' race and cultural diversitycommittee chair Tim Benson works at a school in London that runs ahalal-only kitchen. He said: "We have found it easy to offer halal foodby having a halal-only kitchen, as we have a large Muslim population. Wehaven't encountered any problems yet."
Other proposals made in the Muslim Council report include creatingsingle-sex changing rooms with individual cubicles and ensuring internaltests and exams do not take place during the month of Ramadan.
Benson concedes that where building work is required, many schools willstruggle to adopt measures such as separate changing rooms. However, headded: "This is an aspirational list, offering guidance on what schoolscan do to improve the way that Muslim pupils enjoy school.
"The clear message that I take from this report is the importance ofschools in engaging with all parents."
- www.mcb.org.uk.
