Two UK Citizens Fined and Convicted of Running Illegal School

BBC News reports of the first landmark conviction for operating an unregistered school in England imposed at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Two UK citizens, Nacerdine Talbi and Beatrix Bernhardt, were charged with running an illegal Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre. The unregistered school located in the west London office block took in about 58 pupils. The Typical Student team learned the details.

Landmark Case

Source: BBC News

According to the defendants, the facility isn’t a school, but a study centre where “home-educated children had part-time tuition.” However, the court ruled the facility was actually a full-time school run without proper registration. As a result of the court procedure, the defendants have been given a community order of a 12-week night time curfew. Also, the  Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre was fined £100 and is to be closed for a while.

Why Was Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre Closed?

Source: BBC News

Despite claiming that the Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre was not a formal, full-time school, it served its students with 18 hours of lessons per week. At that, the court heard evidence from the Ofsted inspectors that proved the claim wrong. There were at least 27 pupils present at the school for 25 hours per week and others more than 18 hours.

The school had lessons in the following subjects: maths, science, geography, history, English and Arabic. It also required monthly fees of £250 for secondary age pupils. In conclusion, the centre was "being operated as an unregistered independent educational institution providing full-time education".