London Jewish school blocks evolution questions from test

Posted on: Thu, 03/06/2014 - 09:03 By: Tom Swiss

Religiously-based hostility to science: it's not just for American Christians.

Exam board contacts Jewish school over censored GCSEs (the Guardian)

A state-funded orthodox Jewish girls' school in north London has been criticised after it was discovered that dozens of pupils had their GCSE exams censored, with questions about evolution deliberately blacked out of science papers.

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Yesodey Hatorah is a voluntary-aided all-girls school, meaning it is fully funded by the government but retains full power over its own admissions procedure. According to the school's prospectus it gives priority to admitting "Charedi Jewish girls who meet the Charedi criteria as prescribed by the rabbinate of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations."

Charedi Jews are often described as strictly Orthodox Jews, with Stamford Hill home to Europe's largest community of Orthodox Judaism.