The head of Blackburn’s only state girls’ Muslim school said he would be happy to for students to swear an oath of allegiance to Queen and country. And Mufti Hamid Patel, head of Tauheedul Islam Girls High School, would like to see more schemes to boost patriotism amongst young people of all faiths. Mr Patel was speaking after former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, called for school leavers to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen and country in a bid to give teenagers a sense of shared belonging, in a report published this week. The suggestion was slammed as “silly”, a “half-baked idea” and political gimmick by critics. But Mr Patel, who took over as head of the Bicknell Street school in September, said increasing young people’s national pride could only benefit the country at both a national and local community level. He agreed with Lord Goldsmith’s findings that “while there isn’t a crisis of national identity, there has been a diminution in national pride, in sense of belonging”. “I’m passionate about patriotism,” said Mr Patel, “and I think that there is markedly less national pride in Britain compared to countries such as America or India – even when people there do not agree with their leaders’ actions, for example, that doesn’t affect their love of their country.http://themuslimweekly.com/newsdetails/fullstoryview.aspx?NewsID=ACD43EE77CE8CFB4D0A55E54&MENUID=HOMENEWS&DESCRIPTION=UK%20News
