What was claimed
A video shows children at an English school being taught about the Islamic Salah, praying five times a day.
Our verdict
That’s not what the video shows. The clip was originally posted by an Islamic pre-school in Australia.
Posts being shared on Facebook wrongly suggest a video shows an English school teaching children about Muslim prayers. In fact, the clip was filmed at an Islamic pre-school in Australia.
The video shows a woman leading a group of children in a song about Salah—the Muslim practice of praying five times a day.
It’s been shared on Facebook with a caption which says: “At an English school the children are taught about the Muslim Salah, praying five times a day.”
While the clip is genuine, it wasn’t filmed at a school in England. It was originally posted on Instagram in April by the Clever Little Muslims educational centre in Sefton—a suburb of Sydney in Australia. The centre’s website describes itself as providing a “School Readiness Program including Arabic lessons, Quran Recitation and Dua, Literacy through Phonics, Art and Craft, Numeracy and Physical Education”.
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There are Islamic nurseries and pre-schools in the UK, so it’s possible children attending these schools may receive similar lessons, but that’s not what this video shows.
English schools may teach about Islam as part of religious education (RE) lessons, which are compulsory for mainstream state-funded primary and secondary schools to offer, although parents may withdraw their children from lessons. We’ve written more about how religion is taught in schools in England here.
