Leading Strictly Orthodox rabbis from Stamford Hill, Gateshead and Manchester have called for a day of prayer on Thursday to thwart what they fear to be the latest threat to their education system.

A Private Member’s Bill tabled by the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on education in the Lords, Lord Storey, wants to ensure the compulsory registration of children who are being educated in out-of-school settings.

There are an estimated 1,500 plus boys from 13 to 16 who are attending yeshivot in Stamford Hill where they receive little or no secular education.

But they do not appear on the records of the local authority because yeshivot are not currently classified as schools and there is no register for children who are being home-schooled or taught in alternative institutions.

Lord Storey said, “My Bill would require home educators to register with their local authority — it would be offence not to do so.”

His proposals would also cover students of school age at yeshivot.

But Charedi opponents of such measures believe that this would be the first step to regulating the yeshivot, forcing them to comply with educational directives for schools and to introduce secular subjects.

The last government had backed a Private Member’s Bill for a similar register introduced by the then Conservative MP Flick Drummond — but it ran out of parliamentary time before the election.

However, the new Labour government has indicated its own support for a register.

A Department for Education spokesman said this week: “Our forthcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill will legislate to create registers of children not in school, so no child falls through the cracks. We will work with interested parties across the House on the measures as the Bill progresses.”