LONDON - When Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived yesterday at the opening of the ultra-Orthodox girls school Yesodei Hatorah, the irony was inescapable. A week earlier, the minister of education declared that religious schools must take at least 25 percent of pupils from other faiths into their programs. Two weeks earlier, Blair himself contributed to what has become one of the most contentious issues in Britain - the veil - and declared it a "sign of separation." Indeed, at a time when the British policy of multi-culturalism is coming under intense scrutiny, Blair was at the opening of an institution of a community that has flourished under multi-culturalism.

Addressing a crowd of community leaders, Blair said that "a faith school is about people celebrating their faith, the faith they believe in and guides their life, but doing so in a way that is entirely compatible with being full members of British society. This is the right way for this balance to be struck.

"What you're trying to do here," he continued, "in marrying Judaism with the basic purpose of education, is exactly the right blend of the values that you believe in and the values that in the end must motivate and govern the whole of our country and society."

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The Jewish community in Britain, which comprises nearly 300,000 members, experienced some anxiety last week. As part of the new education program, the Blair government announced that faith-based institutions would have to include in their student population at least 25 percent pupils of different faiths.

Even though the education minister said this would apply to new schools that receive government funding, rumors circulated that this would be broadened to apply to private schools as well.

The main motive in this change is the wish to prevent further radicalization in the Muslim communities in Britain, by bringing such new schools under government oversight. However, the Jewish communities became concerned that this would endanger their schools.

In Britain, there are more than 37,000 Jewish pupils, studying in 37 religious schools and receiving generous support from the government. These schools are committed to adopting a British curriculum and are subject to oversight by the Education Ministry.

In return, the schools receive up to 90 percent funding toward the building of the school and teachers' salaries.

Thousands of other pupils study in private schools where conditions are inferior, mostly because their budgets rely solely on contributions and tuition fees.

The principal of the Yesodei Hatorah school, Rabbi Abraham Pinter, said the idea that faith-based schools can include up to 25 percent pupils of different faiths cannot work in Haredi or Muslim schools. He said that no parent will send their children to a Muslim or a Haredi school, nor will it be possible to impose Haredi values on pupils of other faiths.

He said that if the new regulations go into effect, Yesodei Hatorah will be removed from the government support program.

Pinter is not alone in his concerns and Jewish organizations are busy working behind the scenes to alter the legislation so the reform will not go into effect.

Pinter is keen to point out how the schools, in which 250 girls study, are a prime example of the successful inclusion of the Haredi community in British society, and says that it can serve as a model to efforts of bringing Muslim communities into the fold.