Yoga, Veg Food at UK's Second Hindu-run School

BY: PRASUN SONWALKAR

Aug 28, 2011 — LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (PTI) — A school to be run largely according to the ethos of Hinduism, the second such education centre in Britain, is set to open its doors to students who will experience such ideas as vegetarian food and yoga at the institution.

Krishna Avanti Primary School, to open in September in the east Midlands town of Leicester, which has a large population of Indian-origin people, is the second such British institution after the first state-funded Hindu school opened in the London borough of Harrow in 2008.

However, the Leicester school will be different from the Harrow one since it is a ''free school'', which means pupils from all faiths will be welcome to join it.

The Leicester school is among 24 new ''free schools'' set up by the David Cameron government.

Life at this school will include meditation, vegetarian meals and yoga.

The Krishna Avanti Primary School is being managed by the I-Foundation, which also runs the first-state funded Hindu school in Harrow.

The principal of the Leicester school is Christopher Spall, described as a ''practising Christian''.

Free schools are schools which are set up by groups of parents, teachers, charities, businesses, universities, trusts, religious and voluntary groups in England. They are funded directly by central government.

The day-to-day running of free schools is by an "education provider" - a group or company brought in by the group setting up the school. The provider cannot make a profit from running the school.

Half of the places in the Leicester school will be offered purely on the shortest distance from the school regardless of faith, according to the school.

Once these places are filled the other 30 places will give priority to practising Hindus, based on those that have completed a supplementary information form signed by a senior member of the temple in which they worship.

Ten places will be reserved for devotees of the ISKCON temple in Leicester "just as many Catholic or Anglican schools reserve a number of places for children from the parish", a spokesperson said.

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