Madrasas in UK’s Bradford city become model for tackling child obesity through sport

BRADFORD, UK (MNTV) — Madrasas in Bradford are at the forefront of a groundbreaking health initiative that is tackling childhood obesity and physical inactivity among South Asian children. 

The community-led programme, Join Us: Move. Play (JU:MP), is part of a wider Sport England-funded pilot by the Born in Bradford research programme, and has made significant inroads in the city’s Muslim supplementary schools, according to a report by U.K.-based magazine Hyphen.

Bradford is home to more than 130 madrasas, and between 2020 and 2024, over 4,500 children and 30 mosques participated in the programme. 

What began as a pilot in parks, schools, and community centres has found its most promising success in these faith-based settings.

Born in Bradford research shows that South Asian girls are among the least physically active demographics in the U.K., and obesity levels among South Asian children in the city are 10% higher than their white British peers by age 11. 

Since 90% of Muslim South Asian children attend mosque or madrasa daily after school, these spaces were seen as key to reaching families.

“We started looking into how these faith settings can be involved for health promotion without compromising on their teaching schedule,” said Dr Sufyan Abid Dogra to Hyphen, lead for communities and implementation research at Born in Bradford.

Despite initial reluctance about introducing public health messages into religious spaces, the team persevered. 

“There was scepticism about whether public health messaging belonged in madrasas,” said Dr Dogra. “But the data was clear.”

To bridge the gap between public health bodies and religious institutions, a new charity, Faith in Communities, was formed under the leadership of Mufti Muhammed Zubair Butt. 

With two decades of experience working with mosques, Butt became a trusted intermediary.

“We became the go-between,” he said to Hyphen. “Public health bodies didn’t always know how to speak to madrasas, and madrasas didn’t always have the time or resources to navigate large institutions.”

The initiative’s impact is visible. Some madrasas start lessons with stretching exercises. Others have launched “Walk to Madrasa” campaigns. One declared itself a fizzy drink and pizza-free zone, while another turned its rooftop into a playground. Sports like football, fencing, and girls-only archery have also been introduced through local partnerships.

“What’s changed is that physical health is now part of the conversation,” said Butt. “It’s in the curriculum. It’s being taken home.”

JU:MP’s success has led to training for five other local authorities and Sport England has extended the programme for another three years, expanding it across Bradford and Keighley.

“This is about long-term public health,” Butt added. 

“It’s about raising children who are not only spiritually aware but physically healthy too.”

‘Outstanding results’

Researchers found that by embedding opportunities for play throughout the day, at school, at home, and in community spaces, children’s physical activity increased by more than 70 minutes per week on average.

Children involved in the study wore accelerometers to measure their movement. Data showed that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity increased by six minutes on weekdays, while weekend inactivity dropped by 22 minutes a day, figures well above the national average for similar long-term interventions.

A key feature of JU:MP was the involvement of children and teenagers in designing their own play spaces. Working alongside landscape architects, many helped transform neglected land near their homes into usable green spaces with balance beams, earth mounds, and nature-based play features. 

In several cases, teenage girls led the design process, especially in areas previously affected by fly-tipping or poor lighting. In total, 12 green spaces were developed through the programme.

Sport England, which funded infrastructure for the project, described the results as “outstanding.” 

There are roughly 2,000 madrasas in the U.K., attended by around 250,000 children in after-school settings.

According to experts, these madrasas play a vital role in community cohesion, helping children, often from Muslim, South Asian backgrounds, reinforce cultural identity, literacy, moral values, and religious knowledge outside mainstream school hours. 

In the past, concerns were raised about inadequate teacher vetting, corporal punishment, and lack of oversight, but proactive councils (Bradford, Kirklees, Leicester) and voluntary associations have driven reform.