A private Muslim school has been forced to change its curriculum, overhaul teaching standards and improve child safety following a Sky News investigation.

Education watchdog Ofsted served a statutory notice on the Institute of Islamic Education in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, after its strict Sharia code for pupils was made public, including the threat of expulsion for mixing with outsiders.

Documents handed out to parents warned that boarders were forbidden from watching TV, listening to music, or reading newspapers, while pupils were taught not to speak to the media.

The school, which is run by the secretive Deobandi sect, has now been told it is meeting the required standards, but it has no website and it is unclear whether the policies are still in place.

Inspectors had praised the school in 2011, but re-graded it as inadequate in October 2015 after a re-inspection, and told senior figures at the sect's Markazi Mosque that they were failing to meet basic standards.


In a further blow to the sect, which runs the school in the grounds of its Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Savile Town, a subsequent school improvement plan was rejected in April 2016 by the Department for Education.

Image: Shabbir Daji is involved with both schools. Pic: Batley News

The Ofsted report blamed school leaders, governors and trustees for failing to ensure child safety, and said the trustees, led by mosque elder Shabbir Daji, "do not fulfil their statutory duty".

Following further intervention the school - which teaches 74 boys aged 11 to 16, and 101 18 to 25-year-olds - was re-inspected and has now been judged to be meeting statutory independent school standards.

Its latest Ofsted report states: "A wide range of actions have been put in place to tackle weaknesses," including safety checks on staff and volunteers, a less restricted curriculum, and the appointment of a new headteacher for non-Islamic subjects.

The school, which told Sky News last year that it had a policy of not talking to journalists, could not be contacted for a response.

Image: Zakaria Muslim Girls' High School is awaiting a new Ofsted report

Meanwhile the Zakaria Muslim Girls' High School in nearby Batley, which is also controlled by Mr Daji, is awaiting the publication of a new Ofsted report.

Its previous report was withdrawn by the regulator after Sky News revealed that an inspector conducted child safety checks at the school without speaking to any pupils or teachers because he was told they were celebrating the Eid religious festival.

Ofsted subsequently admitted that not talking to children at the Batley school was "a mistake" and the school has since been re-inspected.