‘Illegal’ UK Jewish schools reportedly receive over £100,000 in public funds

Seven ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in the United Kingdom received over 100,000 pounds in public funds despite operating illegally, the British newspaper The Independent reported on Monday.

Although the schools are not recognized by the British Department for Education, they filled out applications for funding from the Big Lottery Fund — which is tasked with disbursing money raised from the UK’s National Lottery — in which they stated they are schools.

The schools, which described themselves in the applications as yeshivas, a type of Jewish seminary, received 116,750 pounds ($146,000) from the Big Lottery Fund following their request.

The Independent article noted a number of problems with the unrecognized ultra-Orthodox schools, which teach almost exclusively religious subjects in Yiddish and Hebrew, leaving graduates of the schools without proper knowledge of English or subjects such as math and science.

Teachers at authorized schools are also not required to undergo background checks and some former students have said they were abused physically and sexually, the Independent reported.

The ultra-Orthodox schools requested the funding for a number of non-school activities, such as weekend trips and summer camps. Other requests included money for a “kosher library” and for funding to help at-risk youth.

A report from the UK’s Department for Education found that there are 27 such illegal ultra-Orthodox schools in London, which The Independent reported last year have an enrollment of more than 1,000 students.

One former student of an unrecognized ultra-Orthodox school described to The Independent life at the schools, saying “you come in the morning, you learn, you pray, you eat, repeat,” with studies starting at 7:00 a.m. and lasting well into the evening.

The student complained that “kids don’t get any secular education,” as proponents of the schools “believe kids should spend the whole time learning Torah.”

He also said that the schools carry out physical abuse of students by using corporal punishment, and, as a result, he suffers from anxiety.

Emily Green, chairwoman of the Gesher EU organization that helps members of the ultra-Orthodox community integrate into the greater British society, told The Independent that the schools act to have “control over what the children are doing” by limiting their exposure to the rest of society.

“The more they are supervised or controlled the more input they can have in influencing them,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Big Lottery Fund told The Independent “all of the organizations met our eligibility criteria when they were awarded funding, due to their status as either a registered charity, registered company, registered school or community group.”

“We carry out a number of checks relevant to the nature of the project and monitoring is proportionate to the size of the grant. If concerns are raised about particular projects we put extra checks and monitoring in place,” the Big Lottery Fund spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education told The Independent that “illegal schools are illegal and unsafe,” while adding that “where children are being put at risk or not receiving a suitable education, local authorities and the police have clear powers to intervene.”