GETTY The education reforms were drawn up after the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot

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Under new GCSE reforms, school are required to teach more than one faith in religious studies.



It is part of a Government plan to integrate students from different religious backgrounds.

The change was also intended to drive extremism out of the classroom.



The education reforms were drawn up after the ‘Trojan Horse’ plot, in which individuals were found to have been introducing fundamentalist Islamic teaching into Muslim schools in Birmingham.

GETTY Sir Iqbal Sacranie described the decision as "very disappointing"

However, Muslim leaders have said the plan has backfired as Catholic schools has ruled out teaching Islam to students.



Catholic schools have opted to only teach students about Judaism alongside Christianity.



The decision effectively rules out teaching about the world's second biggest religion.

GETTY The decision effectively rules out teaching about the world's second biggest religion

Muslim comunity leaders have described the decision as "very disappointing".



Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the plan undermined Pope Francis’s message of greater tolerance between the faiths.



He urged Catholic leader Cardinal Vincent Nichols to think again.

GETTY Muslim community leaders have urged Catholic leader Cardinal Vincent Nichols to think again

Paul Barber, the director at the Catholic Education Service, said teaching about the Jewish faith would ensure pupils are given a solid grounding in Christianity.



He said, however, that pupils could still learn about other faiths during normal religious education lessons.



But critics added that a significant numbers of pupils who attend Catholic Church schools in Britain come from an Islamic background.



The Catholic Church has more than 2,000 schools under his domain in the country.



More than 90 per cent of students who attend Rosary Catholic Primary in Birmingham are Muslim