July 14, 2003
Muslims oppose funding
by Rizwana Jafri and Tarek Fatah

Welcome to a segregated Ontario school system - yours to plunder!

We're serious. Let's imagine a school system of the future with your children in a segregated institution. Imagine an intersection, say Thorncliffe Park Drive and Overlea Blvd., a Muslim school on one corner, a Hindu school on another, Orthodox Catholic - given the area's Macedonian population - on a third corner, and - given the Muslim penchant for schisms - a Shia or Saudi-funded Wahhabi school on the fourth.

Not a far-fetched scenario, considering the attack that the provincial Tories are pursuing on the public education system to enrich elite private schools. The attempt to take money from the public system to fund private schools is being marketed as a way of assisting minority religious communities.

But is that really the case? Or is it a short-term, politically expedient manoeuvre to win power?

The Muslim community realizes it is being used by the Ernie Eves' government to cover its real agenda - the weakening of the public school system.

Muslims can see through this government's new-found love of diversity. While the bulk of the $300 million will end up in the hands of the province's elite, the Muslim community will be left picking up the crumbs and a damaged public education system, home to 90 per cent of Muslim children.

To understand how the tax credit will collectively impoverish the Muslim community, look at the math: Muslim parents know that every child they pull out of the public education system will take $7,000 per year out of the public school system. In return, by sending their child to a private religious school, they will get back, as tax credits, not more than $1,500, since most private Islamic schools charge a maximum of $3,000 per year. This will amount to a net loss of $5,500 per child.

Muslims are aware that the bulk of the money taken from their children will end up as tax credits to parents of children attending private schools where the fee exceeds $10,000 a year.

Despite the "fundamentalist" tag generally applied to followers of Islam, many in the Muslim community do not belong to this category, can see through this charade of newfound love of religious minorities, and are not buying the Tory propaganda.

Education is the great equalizer in society. A society, through its publicly funded education system, ensures that everyone has an opportunity to achieve success.

The Ontario government, through its introduction and continued support of Bill 45, the so-called Equity in Education tax credit, is creating a two-tier system within a system that is already fragmented and teetering on the brink of crisis, created by the very party that is now sowing the seeds of future religious segregation. Instead of assisting diversity, private religious education will simply create a narrow-minded, elitist and segregated population, while isolating Muslim children in poorly funded schools.

Keith Norton, the Ontario human rights commissioner, acknowledged that funding a separate Catholic school system results in differential treatment for those of other religions. At the same time he has publicly expressed his concern that the funding of private schools without sufficient regulation will run counter to the values of the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Here is what a consumer will not find in a private, religious school system in Ontario:

• Our laws do not require that private schools guarantee equal access to all; of course not, since it's a pay-as-you-go formula. If a child skips school, well, the parents are forking out the money and they lose. Ditto for transportation requirements and special needs.
• They do not have to hire certified teachers bound by the professional, moral and ethical conduct expected of members of the Ontario College of Teachers. Public school teachers, meanwhile, are required to meet 18 different competencies.

The desire on anyone's part to restrict their children's education to their own values should not be supported by public tax dollars because it is contrary to the development and enhancement of a society that believes in teaching acceptance of diversity and tolerance.

Most Muslim parents wish their children to grow and become educated in a climate of diversity, where they can learn to respect and understand the faiths of others, while being exemplary ambassadors of Islam and peace.

Muslims do not believe in the segregation and ghettoization of their community. As parents, we believe that millions of families in Ontario feel as we do, but haven't had the opportunity to speak about the implications of the government's private school tax credit.

Let's ensure that the public education system stays as it is meant to be - a system of equal opportunity for all.

Rizwana Jafri is a Toronto schoolteacher and Tarek Fatah is host of the TV show, The Muslim Chronicle. Both have children in the Toronto District School Board and are founding members of the Muslim Canadian Congress.