1 April 2013
The Glasgow Community Education Association (GCEA) is a step closer to establishing Scotland’s first Islamic secondary school after it completed the £400,000 purchase of Abbotsford House, a B-listed Victorian building in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. If the project is successful, the building will be renamed The Islamic Institute and will offer secondary education to boys and girls in addition to housing a nursery. The GCEA currently has no plans to pursue public funding for the project.
This is not the GCEA’s first attempt to found an Islamic secondary school in Glasgow. Last year, the group failed to complete the purchase of the abandoned Holmlea Primary School in Cathcart for the same purpose. The successful purchase of Abbotsford House has prompted some to question the need for an Islamic school and to warn of the possible community divisions such a project might engender.
