The local council has denied aid to a London hareidi school, shortly after the school's administration threatened to expel students whose mothers drive cars.
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the Beis Malka School requested money from the Hackney Council in order to add new buildings. The council explained its rejection by saying that the school does not properly teach the national curriculum, does not offer enough support for special needs students, and that there are "serious concerns about health and safety."
The school is affiliated with the Belz hassidic movement. The group came under criticism in May, after Belz rabbis in London published a letter that described allowing women to drive cars as against "the traditional rules of modesty in our camp."
While the Hackey Council did not connect its refusal to give money to the controversy, school representatives from Beis Malka have argued that the school received a "good" rating from the government's Office for Standards in Education.