Illegal Jewish schools: council denies cover up over ‘missing’ children

Stamford Hill is home to a large Jewish community

Allegations that Hackney Learning Trust tried to “cover up” evidence of Jewish children attending illegal faith schools have been strongly denied by the council.

An investigation by the Independent claimed chiefs at Hackney Learning Trust, the council’s education branch, “destroyed” records of those children.

But the council has rejected the accusations, saying it was already public knowledge that hundreds of Hackney schoolchildren are suspected to be attending yeshivas, illegal unregistered faith schools.

“It is well known that a number of Orthodox Jewish ‘schools’ operate in Hackney,” a council spokesperson said.

More than 1,000 Jewish boys are currently missing from the education register in Hackney, the council confirmed. Orthodox Jewish families do not tend to expect girls to attend religious schools.

The schoolboys drop off the system when parents remove them from registered independent Jewish schools and enrol them at the ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, whose curriculums are dominated by religious texts and whose staff insist on teaching in Yiddish rather than English.

Welfare concerns

Hackney Council estimates between 12 and 20 yeshivas operate in the borough. In the past it had asked the registered Jewish schools to inform them when the boys were removed to attend illegal schools.

The Independent accused the council of having destroyed “all evidence it collected on the issue,” at the request of the schools.

However, a council spokesperson said: “The details of some pupils taught in registered, independent settings was returned to the schools following a legal challenge in 2010. Local authorities are unable to demand the details of pupils taught in independent settings.”

The council said it has “never held the details” of students attending unregistered schools, despite “numerous requests” and being “concerned about the welfare” of those pupils.

Although both the council and the Department for Education (DfE) have been aware of the issue since 2010, no action has been successfully taken in order to protect the children, the Independent claimed.

Hackney Council said it has been working with the DfE and Ofsted to encourage the schools to register, but has limited “enforcement powers” to take action.

“This is a very complex area of work, not least because parents in this community do not want to send their children to mainstream schools,” the spokesperson added.

“As a recent example of this, when the DfE ordered a school to close, it simply reopened as a community centre, where it delivers home schooling.”

A DfE spokesperson said it is imperative councils record the identities of children missing from school: “Local authorities must take immediate action to establish the identities of children missing from school to ensure they are safe and receiving a good education.

“Subject to outcomes of a recent consultation, we plan to change regulations so that schools have a duty to inform local authorities in all circumstances where a pupil is removed from a school register.”