Britain's first Hindu school to begin term

Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school, Krishna-Avanti, opened in London on Monday and has reportedly been oversubscribed, reports Vijay Dutt.

Britain’s first state-funded Hindu school, Krishna-Avanti, opened in London on Monday and has reportedly been oversubscribed. It will be offering its pupils yoga, meditation and prayer as well as lessons, temporarily in an outdoor amphitheatre.

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There are an estimated 15,000 Hindu children living in the borough, but the school will initially admit just one class of 30 four and five-year-olds.

It hopes to build up to a total of 236 places by 2014, including a nursery. Naina Parmar, the head, described the school as “a huge step forward for Britain’s one million Hindus”.

Some 587 secondary and 6,253 primary schools in England, representing around a third of the total, are faith schools. The vast majority are Christian. A handful are Muslim and Jewish.

A state-of-the-art building encompassing a meditation garden, an amphitheatre and numerous green innovations — such as a grass roof — will be open in September next year.