Why is 'No' always the first answer that Hindus get?

By Lopa Patel, 8 February 2010

Why is 'No' always the first answer that Hindus get? Perhaps religion doesn't come into it at all. Perhaps everyone gets 'No' as the first answer whenever they ask a simple question like "Can we have equal representation, please?" or "Can we have a Hindu on your board, please?" or "Can we have a Hindu secondary school, please?" or even the more controversial "Can we have some return-on-investment for the millions we pay in taxes as one of the leading entrepreneurial communities in the UK?" (my friend’s favourite, that last one!).

Obviously none of these questions ever get Hindus anywhere, let alone to elusive 'yes' answer, so perhaps it is time that Hindus started asking the question in the right way.

Instead of asking "Can we have a Hindu Secondary school, please?" Hindus should be asking…

"Please allow us to raise millions from donations so that we can help you build the UK’s first eco-friendly secondary school that will then act as a template for all schools of the future?"

Or…

"Please allow us to raise millions so that we can build the UK’s first eco secondary school, on time and on budget?"

Or, how about

"Please allow us to raise millions so that we can build a school that is already over-subscribed by a ratio of 5:2 for places, even before it has moved beyond an idea?"

Or even

"Please allow us to raise millions so that we can build a school where good student discipline, participation and academic achievement will catapult the school in the top tier within a few short years?"

Perhaps all this sounds ridiculous, until you look at the UK statistics: 6,100 Church Schools, 2500 Catholic Schools, 40 Jewish Schools, 10 Islamic Schools and 2 Sikh schools – all state funded!

When all political parties constantly bombard the UK’s million-strong Hindu community with rhetoric about building a more diverse, fairer, more equal society, it may be beholden upon them to take a deep breath and say "maybe" instead of a flat 'no' next time someone comes along with a gentle proposal to build a Hindu secondary school.

Why have faith schools anyway?

As the product of a "bog-standard" comprehensive school myself, I don’t believe that we need faith schools at all. However, until we have a political leader who is prepared to ban all faith schools, we have to work within an imperfect system. The imperfection is such that in areas of high Hindu population – say Barnet or Harrow – many pupils have no chance to attend many of the faith schools, causing a pressure-keg effect on the few remaining good state schools in the area. Hindu children are in essence "guinea pigs" in a system that then allocates them a school regardless of their wish for single-sex, high academic achievement or walking distance from home. Is that fair?

Most people, including those that work within education, think it isn’t fair. But all the actions of Government and local councils do not make it any fairer, only more complicated.

Tory leader David Cameron recently announced that his party would adopt a lottery system for allocation of school places. Quite frankly, most Hindu parents are willing to take the risk. It's all a bit of a lottery for them anyway!