MUSLIM community leaders have demanded that halal school dinners are provided to every Camden child who wants them from September.
Only two schools in Camden offer halal food, and the decision to introduce it at others rests with school governors, who have so far resisted calls from Muslim parents.
Joynal Uddin and Mohammed Noor, leaders of the Standing Committee for Muslim Communities in Camden (SCMCC), say thousands of Muslim children will continue to eat an unbalanced diet unless the Town Hall issues an edict ensuring that halal food is offered.
The ruling executive of Labour councillors last month rejected that option on the advice of officers. Further debate has been put off until the autumn, when the terms of a new catering contract from September, 2006 will be discussed.
Mr Uddin, a cleric and leader of the Bengali Tenants and Parents Association, said: “As long as the council fails to give a clear policy, the school governors will resist our calls for halal food. That is not democracy.
“We elect the council to represent us. It is time they started doing that.”
Mr Uddin and Mr Noor made their call after a series of meetings at mosques and Muslim meeting places across Camden at the weekend hardened community resolve to campaign for halal dinners.
SCMCC is now calling for a public meeting with both Camden MPs and councillors to discuss the issue, which came to public attention last month when the New Journal revealed halal meat had secretly been added then removed from the menu at all of Camden’s schools.
Mr Uddin said: “It’s not just halal, halal, halal. There is a wider question about representation, that effects many other communities than the Muslims.”
In his joint letter with Mr Noor, he added: “We know very well from our past experience that parents of some schools, where Muslim pupils are even in a significant majority, not a ‘significant minority’, appealed repeatedly to their respective headteachers and governors for halal meals but all their appeals went to deaf ears.”
Education supremo Cllr Nick Smith said: “Camden Council aims to address the needs of children with a range of dietary requirements on cultural or religious grounds at Camden schools.
““We aim to provide a halal meal to every child who wants one, in agreement with their school.”