MAIL ONLINE: Muslim pupils are being withdrawn from music lessons because some families believe learning an instrument is anti-Islamic, it emerged today.
An investigation has discovered that Muslim pupils are being taken out of school music classes even though the subject is a compulsory part of the national curriculum.
While parents have legal rights to withdraw children from religious and sex education classes, no automatic right exists to pull them out of subjects such as music.
One education expert said that up to half of Muslim pupils were withdrawn from music lessons during Ramadan.
And The Muslim Council of Britain said music lessons were likely to be unacceptable to around 10 per cent of the Muslim population in Britain.
However, in certain branches of Islam - such as Sufism, which is dominant in Pakistan and India - devotional music and singing is actually central to the religion.
A BBC investigation found that in one London primary school, 20 pupils were removed from rehearsals for a Christmas musical and one five-year-old girl remains permanently withdrawn from mainstream music classes.
Some Muslims believe that playing musical instruments and singing is forbidden according to Islam. >>> Laura Clark, Education Correspondent | Thursday, July 01, 2010
