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LONDON, ENGLAND. October 29 2003: Nobel Prize winner Dr. Amartya Sen criticized the support to faith schools by Prime Minister Tony Blair in his keynote speech at the Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh. He also criticised the Scottish Executive’s stance on denominational schools, claiming single-faith establishments damage educational attainment. He said: “I personally believe that even the UK government makes a mistake in expanding, rather than reducing, faith-based schools, adding, for example, Muslim schools, Hindu schools and Sikh schools to preexisting Christian ones.” Dr. Sen further stressed “the importance of nonsectarian and nonparochial curricula that expand, rather than reduce, the reach of reason,” claiming that faith schools reduced individuality and threatened attainment levels. A spokeswoman for the government said: “We believe that denominational schools provide an important strand in parental choice in education and make a positive contribution to raising achievement and attainment. We value this and would expect to see them continue.”

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