£10m state cash for first Hindu school

Britain's first state-funded school for Hindus, which will receive guidance from the Hare Krishna movement, is to get the go ahead, backed by almost £10m of taxpayers' money.

The news is seen as a major cultural breakthrough by Britain's 600,000-strong Hindu community which has long campaigned for state-funded schools for its followers. But it has also attracted criticism from secular groups who claim that religion and education do not mix.



The Krishna-Avanti school, which will be advised by Iskcon - the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the Hare Krishna movement - will be based in Harrow, north-west London. A planning application will be submitted to the local council next month and the school is expected to open in September 2008.

Almost 40,000 Hindus live in Harrow, comprising 20 per cent of the town's population, but the faith's leaders say their educational needs have until now been largely ignored. There are two private Hindu schools in Britain, but the Harrow school will be the first of its kind to be backed by the government.

At full capacity, the school will teach 240 pupils with a nursery providing space for a further 26 children. Although pupils will study the national curriculum, Hinduism's ethos will be woven into all aspects of school life, according to the school's directors.