The newly elected British Government has overturned a 60-year old rule by pledging approximately £500m to rebuild every faith-based secondary school in England. Chancellor Gordon Brown had previously announced that every secondary school in the country would be rebuilt by 2015 under a £5bn refurbishment programme. Due to this, under existing rules, it would mean that the 500 voluntary-aided faith schools in the country would have to contribute to 10 percent of the total cost. Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, made her first major concession to faith schools since the General Election when she agreed to waive the rule in a deal to treat faith schools the same as the rest of the schools. It is reported that the current proposal would benefit 350 Roman Catholic schools, 130 Anglican schools, 23 schools ran by Christians groups, five Jewish schools, two Muslims schools, and the Sikh school in Hayes. During the election campaign, Mr Brown had also announced plans to rebuild half the country’s primary schools under a separate programme. Officials had also signalled the Government could waive the 10 percent rule for the 3,800 faith-based primary schools. The Sikh Federation (UK) has written to Ruth Kelly welcoming the Government's decision to help rebuild faith schools. "We are delighted with this decision. This will be welcome news to not only the existing Sikh school in Hayes, but a major help in building the new Sikh school in Slough. We will be urging the Slough Sikh School Trust to contact you as soon as possible to ensure the new Sikh school in Slough is built as soon as possible and opens in September 2006." A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said, "All pupils deserve 21st-century facilities and the decision to include the voluntary-aided sector equally ensures we will deliver on that commitment."

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