. On a bright October day in 1983 the Brondesbury  College for Boys opened its doors for the first time as Islamia Primary School. Just 13 pupils trooped in that day, totally unaware of the part they were to play in what soon became an issue of international importance. Today, 14 years later, the school - with 150 pupils on roll ... stands on the threshold of the state education system, poised to become Britain's first state funded Muslim school in April, 1998.

Three other Muslim schools have attempted to accompany Islamia through the doors of the state system over the years. Zakaria Muslim Girls' High School in Batley withdrew its own application for voluntary aided status in the early 1990s ... is a likely candidate to re-apply. The other unsuccessful school was Feversham College in Bradford whose voluntary aided application was rejected ... A re-application is imminent The third school, Al-Furqan Primary in Birmingham, has been more successful and is due to join Islamia as a state school in September. The school's achievement is in many ways even more remarkable than Islamia's given the relatively better resources available to the latter. The school started life as a study group for nursery age children in 1989 ... Five years ... later, work on the application for state funding began in 1994 and success came in 1997. Al-Furqan benefited naturally from the long and high profile campaign for Islamia.

The decision to fund Islamia and Al-Furqan brings Britain in line with state policy in some other countries like Holland, Denmark and Eire, close to home, and South Africa, further afield, that give varying levels of state funding for Muslim schools along with other denominational schools. Moreover, for the first time British Muslims have been afforded equal status in education, in principle at least. With the two state funded schools catering for around 360 or so pupils out of an estimated 350,000 Muslim children of compulsory school age, there is certainly not equality of opportunity for all Muslim parents and their children. Nevertheless, this is a start and there is now no argument that Muslims are excluded per se from educational choice. In theory, schools 'just' have to fulfil the funding requirements of the DfEE. ..

However, only a handful of Muslim day schools ... are in a position to begin application procedures. For most, in the absence of suitable ... premises ... In the meantime, for most Muslim children in Britain a non-Muslim school is the reality; only around two per cent attend Muslims schools ... Local primary schools ... will undoubtedly have to improve their provision for Muslim children ... if they begin to lose pupils to Muslim schools, especially non-fee paying schools, they will also lose money from the government as this is paid per capita based on the number of pupils on roll ...

The involvement of Muslim schools in curriculum development as partner ... in the state system makes it more likely for the ideas and teaching methods employed in Muslim schools to be shared among teaching colleagues working with Muslim pupils in non-Muslim schools. Again, this means the majority of Muslim children should be able to benefit from the Muslim schools. In terms of community relations and support for the independent Muslim schools this is a very positive sign.

(The) decision can be described as a landmark. It is the sort of morale-booster Britain's plus-minus two million Muslims need in the wake of quasi-official recognition of 'Islamophobia' and the problems that creates ...