LONDON, June 9: British Muslim groups accused the government of Islamophobia in schools on Wednesday, threatening to spark a similar debate to that which has been raising passions in France.

They said Britain's 300,000 Muslim children faced discrimination in the state education system and called for exclusive Muslim schools and more single-sex teaching. But critics said education and religion did not mix, echoing attitudes in France, which in March passed a ban on Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in a bid to soothe tension between its Jewish and Muslim populations.

The ban, due to take effect in French schools in September, has triggered protests from France's Muslims, Islamic countries and Pope John Paul. Muslim groups welcomed Wednesday's report "Muslims on Education", which was launched by lawmaker Baroness Uddin from Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party.

The report calls for Islam to be represented in the mainstream curriculum, in subjects such as history for example, and for Arabic, Urdu and Bengali to be more widely available.

"Islamophobia is infiltrating the playground and even the classroom," said Samar Mashadi, director of the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism (FAIR), which published the report.

Before its main points could be made public on Wednesday afternoon, the debate was already under way. "The Jewish community has about 30 schools, but as the second largest faith community in the country, Muslims only have five, and yet there are about five times more of us," said Tahir Alam of the Muslim Council.

Mr Alam said Muslim schools were "a recipe for good citizens". "Why when we talk about Muslim schools is it called divisive, but not when we talk about Jewish or Christian faith schools?" he said. An official painted a picture of dwindling contact between different religious cultures in Britain, which has 1.6 million Muslims among its 60 million population. -Reuters