Differences in Educational Performances between Faiths

Based on figures by UK National Statistics, the Telegraph reports that Hindu, Sikh and Muslim teenagers are more likely to go to university than their Christian or atheist counterparts. A study conducted for the Department of Education found that 77% of Hindu and 63% of Sikh teenagers go on to higher education, compared to 53% of Muslims, 45% of Christians and 32% of those with no religion. These findings add to the existing body of research, which shows that students from white working-class backgrounds are performing worse at school and are less likely to go to university than their Asian counterparts. Prof Steve Strand of Warwick University, however, argues that religion is not the reason for these differences in performance. Rather, religion was a “proxy” for ethnicity – while white working-class students and parents do not see the relevance for attending university, Asian families consider it as a way to achieve a better socio-economic situation.

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