Drums greet UK's first Hindu state School .

Please! No barrages about Muslim countries and Racism..

Britain's First Hindu state school has been launched with a traditional ceremony of Indian drums and the chanting of ancient prayers.

Pupils at Krishna-Avanti Primary School will have dedicated yoga and Sanskrit lessons and will grow vegetables, in line with the strict vegetarian principles of the school.

A traditional Hindu temple will take pride of place in the courtyard of the new school, in Harrow, north London. It will have about 240 pupils, with an admissions policy giving priority to practising Hindus.

However, the school was forced to abandon even stricter entry requirements which would have required parents to be vegetarian, teetotal and pray daily if they wanted their children to win a place.

Two more Hindu state schools, one in Leicester and one in Barnet, north London, could open in the next few years. There are nearly 7,000 faith schools in Britain – about a third of all state schools. The large majority are Christian, but there are also 37 Jewish, seven Muslim and two Sikh.

Ministers have been sympathetic to the argument put by minority faiths that, given the large numbers of Church of England and Roman Catholic schools, they too should have their own schools.

However, critics claim that separate schools for minority faiths will lead to increased racial segregation in education. The National Secular Society has called the Hindu school an "exercise in religious proselytising" funded by taxpayers.