When there's low self-esteem, it's like a virus, everyone feels let down

Tayba Sharif, 18

However, they felt they had the same basic abilities as their peers from other areas, Young Voice found.

Founder-director Adrienne Katz said: "I think there will be some alarming consequences for the community and society if we don't take notice of this lack of hope."

The recent wave of arrests in Leicester of people alleged to be connected with Osama bin Laden's al Quaida terror network has heightened fears that more British Muslims may be involved than was previously thought.

'Claustrophobic ghetto'

Ms Katz added: "If young people don't feel they have a chance for a future in their own country, they are likely to look elsewhere for excitement, for allegiance and loyalty.

"They need to feel valued and that there is something ahead of them - if they don't, it's a very dangerous situation."

Young Voice interviewed 308 young people from Bradford, of whom 86% were from ethnic minority communities and 2,414 from other parts of England for the report.

Most of the ethnic minority Bradfordians were Pakistanis and other Asians.

One 18-year-old girl, Tayba Sharif, was quoted as saying: "Bradford's claustrophobic now ... they just feel now they'll never get out of the ghetto.

'Needed at home'

"When there's low self-esteem, it's like a virus, everyone feels let down.

"Collectively they're feeling the same anger."

The report found Muslim families were fearful of letting their daughters go away to university to study and 38% of young Bradfordians said they were "needed at home", compared with13% nationally.

Young people in the city felt they did not have access to good facilities - 20% said they did not have a local library, compared with 10% nationally, for example.

Bradford students were more than twice as likely as others polled to say they had experienced racism, while bullying outside school was also more common.

Teachers 'racist'

Bradford has 26 secondary schools and Lord Ouseley, the former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, warned last summer that they had become racially segregated, exacerbating the city's problems.

One young Muslim male said: "If I did things again, I would change the teachers, I would try my best to get away from racist people, especially the teachers that I thought frankly were racist.

"I really hate them, I really do. They are so unfair and have no understanding about our lives."

One 18-year-old said: "Education now in Bradford's the lowest it has been.

"The system doesn't filter out those who are bright - some girls are reaching for the top while some boys are spiralling out of control."