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<p>In England there are 27 publicly-funded schools (i.e. local authority maintained
schools and academies, including free schools) having a designated religious character
as Muslim; and 148 independent schools registered as having a religious ethos of Muslim
or Islam, or having a designated religious character of Muslim or Islam (or both)<strong><em>.
</em></strong> The Department for Education does not regulate madrassahs or other
out-of-school education settings and does not hold a complete record their numbers.</p><p>The
quality of teaching in Muslim schools in England is inspected by Ofsted or one of
the independent inspectorates approved by the Secretary of State.</p><p>All publicly
funded schools must teach English to pupils up to the age of 16. English is both a
subject in its own right and the medium for teaching in the vast majority of circumstances.
The statutory independent school standards require that pupils acquire speaking, listening,
literacy and numeracy skills. While independent schools are not required to teach
in the medium of English, the standards require that where they do not, lessons in
written and spoken English are provided.</p><p>The Department has no plans to legislate
further to require schools to teach in the medium of English. The Department launched
a call for evidence setting out proposals for a new system for regulating out-of-school
education settings providing intensive education, but this did not suggest that they
should be required to teach in English.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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