PAKISTANI pupils may be failing to fulfil their potential because of the amount of time they spend in mosques after school, a controversial report claims this week.

The average British Pakistani child spends two hours every weekday studying the Koran, the basics of Islam and at prayer, according to a leading figure in Bradford’s Pakistani community.

Dr Mohammed Ali, chief executive for a Bradford charity, claimed this was likely to be a factor in the relatively poor performance of Pakistani pupils. Last year, 30 per cent of Pakistani students gained five or more good GCSEs, compared to 50 per cent in the population as a whole.

Pakistan-born Dr Ali, a member of West Yorkshire Learning and Skills Council, said that pupils could be missing out on homework and after-school clubs.

His report for Quest for Economic Development, a charity to promote the south-east Asian community, said: “Quantity, not quality, is provided in most British mosques and madarasses (Islamic schools) and that, I feel, is probably one of the reasons for the poor educational performance of British Pakistani pupils.”

However, Dr Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary of the National Muslim Education Council, said that only around 40 per cent of Pakistani pupils went to the mosque daily.

He added: “Students have lots of free time - in the playground, in front of the TV, on other activities. Spending time at the mosque is not going to hurt them at all.”

The report came as research revealed that schools in Bradford and Oldham were aware of racial tensions weeks before the riots which hit the towns this summer.

Three schools from Bradford and two from Oldham feature in the top 10 of a list of 273 secondaries ranked by racist insults reported in questionnaires completed by pupils in the spring. In one school 78 per cent of pupils reported hearing racist insults at least weekly, compared to an average in similar schools of 29 per cent.

The results were compiled by the Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre at the University of Durham. Its director, Professor Carol FitzGibbon, said schools were made aware of the results six weeks before the first riot, in Oldham, at the end of May.

The findings mirror those of the Ouseley report into race relations in Bradford, after the riots, which highlighted “inconsistent and inadequate action by schools and teachers to recognise and deal with racial incidents”. This week Lord Ouseley, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, told The TES: “There are still too many schools where there is not clear leadership about the way racist behaviour is handled.”

Both Professor FitzGibbon, who chairs OFSTIN, the organisation calling for the reform of the Office for Standards in Education, and Lord Ouseley, said inspectors failed to identify racial tensions in some schools.

Copies of Dr Ali’s report from QED, West Bowling Centre, Clipstone Street, Bradford BD5 8FA. Tel 01274 735551. OFSTIN open forum, November 6, Friends House, Euston Road, central London from 7pm. www.dur.ac.ukofstinforum