Pressure for the establishment of the first Muslim school in Scotland has been sporadically applied over the years. The Islamic ante has been upped in recent months for two reasons. First, the integration into state education of two private primary schools in England (along with three Jewish ones). Second, Glasgow City Council's plans to make the only single-sex state secondary in Scotland, Notre Dame, co-educational. Notre Dame is popular with Muslim parents who, for reasons of faith and culture, prefer their daughters to be educated separately from boys. That will no longer be an option if the council proceeds with its plans. Muslim businessmen have a long-term strategy to meet that demand by establishing in the first instance a two-class, girls-only school in the city. Whether it will be popular with the Muslim community is another matter since those whose daughters are currently educated
in the state sector would have to pay for their education in the private school. As far as the first pressure is concerned, Scotland, while having one Jewish primary in the state sector, has no Muslim schools, private or otherwise, to assimilate. Muslims might demand ''equal treatment'' with denominational schools but that is the crucial difference between Roman Catholic and Muslim education. RC schools had been long established before they were brought under state control, and afforded the same benefits as non-denominational ones, in 1918. Unlike England, which has a much more fragmented education system, there are no Muslim schools here to embrace.
Indeed, many Muslim children are successfully educated in state and private schools. Education legislation prevents any school from discriminating against any pupil on grounds of religion (and, in the denominational sector, most teachers in most unpromoted subjects). Our society's pluralism is reflected in the way schools teach an understanding of, and tolerance for, other faiths through religious and moral education. Although we can discern no outstanding reason for the establishment of state-funded Muslim schools in Scotland there is nothing to prevent the building of a private one. It is worth recalling, however, that the private sector, representing the ultimate in parental choice, has found difficulty in sustaining single-sex education.
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