The leader of Bradford charity QED today criticised the standard of education supplied in local mosques.

Chief executive Dr Mohammed Ali said the practice of sending Muslim youngsters for 'supplementary education' for two hours a night was holding them back.

He said: "Quantity, not quality education is provided in most British mosques and Madarassas and that, I feel, is probably one of the reasons for the poor educational performance of British Pakistani children.

"Attending mosques for two hours each day after school, plus time at the weekend, is a norm for British Pakistani children from the ages of six to 14. Other religious communities, for instance the Sikhs, give their children religious and language education only at the weekends, with remarkable results."

His comments came in a report he penned after a fact-finding mission to Pakistan to explore ways of fostering links between the two countries. He said the poor school performance and poor job prospects suffered by British Pakistanis was often blamed on Islamophobia or racism. But British Indians prosper here, along with Muslims who have settled in the UK from East Africa, India and the Middle East, he claimed.

In Bradford in 2000, 33 per cent of pupils overall gained the standard benchmark of five grade A-C GCSE passes. But only 27 per cent of Bangladeshi pupils achieved that result, 20 per cent of African-Caribbean pupils and 24 per cent of Pakistani pupils.