These days Asian parents are increasingly asserting their desire for their children to be educated around others sharing their religion. Church of England and Catholic schools are well-established and, in the past few years, the government, sensitive to the accusation of unfairness and aware of Muslim resentment over the Iraq war, has been encouraging the establishment of faith schools catering for Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.

Last week the former Home Secretary David Blunkett made a thoughtful speech at the ICA arguing for a story of Britishness that was broad and inclusive enough to incorporate the diversity of the nation. When I asked Mr Blunkett if he believed faith schools assisted this he conceded that the decision to establish Muslim, Hindu and Sikh schools had not been a philosophical choice but 'pure pragmatism.'

But pragmatism at what price? I recently completed a BBC Radio 4 documentary which asked whether faith schools might exacerbate existing tensions between communities. I visited an Islamic school in Birmingham. The school is popular and produces excellent exam results. Walking along the corridor I noticed posters depicting Islamic history and heroes and a map highlighting the different origin nations of the pupils. Supporters of such schools claim they produce self-confident young adults who do not feel they are the only Muslim in the village. I sympathise but think this comes with a price.

My Muslim values were transmitted through my parents who would not have dreamed of expecting my school to provide them. I find it hard to understand why today's parents - Muslim, Sikh, Hindu or Christian - believe schools should have a role in teaching religious faith.

Britain today is multicultural and multi-faith and it seems perverse to try to create artificial mono-faith ghettos. This is as true for the white parents who suddenly discover God so that their child can go to a white school as it is for any other community. What concerns me is that some Muslim parents are opting for Islamic schools in a futile attempt to 'protect' their children from wider society. Islamic schools don't, of course, necessarily breed or teach extremism and it is worth remembering that the London bombers were educated in the state sector. But do faith schools help forge a common British identity? Under the flag of parental choice we are institutionalising a segregation that already exists in many cities.

So how do we avoid, in Trevor Phillips's phrase, sleepwalking into segregation? We can't turn the clock back and close all faith schools. But there can be greater vigilance about what and who is taught. If Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs want their children educated separately, they need also to learn about the ties that bind all of us together. It cannot be right to have only Islamic heroes on the walls of Islamic schools. In my documentary I met a young Pakistani girl who attended a multi-faith girls' grammar school and I asked her what she thought of faith schools. Here, she said, she had friends from many different cultures. 'In faith schools you learn about how you are meant to get on with everyone,' she explained 'but at this school you don't just learn it, you live it.' Faith schools should have to accept children of other faiths, it is better for the children and it is certainly better for the country.

My brother now has children. In order to ensure that they attend a mainly white school he moved. I would do the same. Not because we want to deny our religion or forget our culture but because we and they are British as well as Muslim. Parents today have the freedom to send their children to faith schools but, if they do, they should think carefully about the consequences for their children and the community.

· A Class Apart, BBC Radio 4, 23 July 1.30pm

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