No, the UK isn't forcing school pupils to study Islam
In reality, there's a legal expectation that school curriculums should reflect that traditions in England are "in the main Christian".
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/01/no-the-uk-isnt-forcing-school-pupils-to-study-islam
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In reality, there's a legal expectation that school curriculums should reflect that traditions in England are "in the main Christian".
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/01/no-the-uk-isnt-forcing-school-pupils-to-study-islam
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00No, the U.K. isn't forcing school pupils to study Islam.
00:09Viral social media posts are claiming that the U.K. is forcing children aged 9 to 16
00:13to study Islam as one of its main subjects.
00:17Some make over-the-top accusations that the U.K.'s education system has fallen and that
00:21parents should take their children out of school.
00:24Others say that the teaching of Islam will replace Christianity and Hinduism in schools.
00:29While the most prevalent posts share the claims in a negative light, some appear to
00:33share them as a good thing to be celebrated.
00:36Either way, the claims are false.
00:38There are no credible media outlets reporting on the supposed news, and there's been no
00:42official announcement from the government.
00:44A Google search of whether religious education is compulsory in the U.K. takes us to a report
00:49by the House of Lords, the country's upper chamber of parliament, which was published
00:54in January 2024 and deals with the quality of religious education in England specifically.
00:59The Lords said that RE is compulsory for all state-funded schools in England, but that
01:04it's not part of the national curriculum, and parents have a legal right to withdraw
01:08their children for all or part of the lessons.
01:11The national curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by schools so children
01:15learn the same things, meaning the teaching of RE can differ from school to school, for
01:20example if it's affiliated with the Church of England.
01:22A separate April 2024 report by Ofsted, the government's education inspection agency for
01:28England, found that Christian traditions were the most frequently studied.
01:32This is in keeping with the legal expectation that curriculums should reflect that traditions
01:36in England are, in the main, Christian, the report said.
01:40It also noted that Jewish and Muslim traditions were the next most frequently studied religions.
01:45While the Department for Education had not responded to our requests for comment as of
01:48the time of this report, there's no evidence that schools are being forced to teach Islam,
01:53and plenty that Christianity is the religion that's most focused on.