Watch above: 16×9 spent a week with the highly controversial group Lev Tahor. Our cameras went into the community’s classrooms and spoke with teachers and students. Here, our cameraman asked the students basic questions like what they are studying and who the prime minster is.
16×9 spent a week with the highly controversial ultra-orthodox Jewish sect, Lev Tahor. The community is fighting allegations of abuse and neglect. Government officials have concerns of girls being married off underage and children not provided adequate education.
Our cameras went into the community’s classrooms and spoke with teachers and students. None of the teachers we spoke to were accredited.
In the classroom we witnessed a focus on Yiddish and Jewish scriptures. The kindergarten boys were being taught the letters of the Yiddish alphabet and the teenagers were reciting Jewish laws.
Watch below: 16X9’s Carolyn Jarvis presents a full one-hour special on the controversial, ultra-orthodox Jewish sect of Lev Tahor
We were told boys are taught an hour of English every day, but could not find a single English text book in the school.
As our female correspondent, Carolyn Jarvis, was not allowed into the classroom with teenage boys, our cameraman, Kirk Neff went in to quiz the students. We discovered the students struggled with the simplest of English questions we posed.
Girls are permitted a few more hours of secular subjects, such as math and English, and dedicate time to learning how to run a household.
Lev Tahor denies child abuse allegations saying it is being persecuted for its religious beliefs. The group says it had to flee Quebec in order to teach its children a curriculum focused on religion.
READ MORE: Under the veil of Lev Tahor, Jewish sect accused of abuse
It’s a “war against religion” says Lev Tahor leader, Uriel Goldman.
“We are just fighting in favour of our religion and other religious groups; to have the possibility to have religious studies as our education.”
READ MORE: How members of ultra-orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor cover themselves in bed
In Ontario, private schools that do not offer secondary school diplomas operate independent of the government, but still have to demonstrate they are teaching core subjects such as English, math and science.
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