18 July 2014

Fears of Islamophobia gave activists free rein in Birmingham schools

A group of fundamentalist "activists", mostly men of Pakistani origin, infiltrated the management of at least 10 schools in Birmingham, sometimes breaking the law in order to introduce Muslim worship and sex segregation, according to a highly critical report.

Their activities were unimpeded by council officials who were fearful of allegations of Islamophobia, who forced ousted teachers to sign gagging clauses rather than treating their complaints seriously as whistleblowers, Ian Kershaw, the authority's independent adviser, concluded.

.... at Golden Hillock school, one of Kershaw's interviewees reported that a teacher told children not to listen to Christians because they were "all liars"; another allegedly told pupils they were "lucky to be Muslims and not ignorant like Christians and Jews".

[A COMMENT] "Female pupils were also ordered to return from a tennis coaching programme "because the school policy … does not allow girls to have a male coach and take part in any activity with boys" and a netball tournament was cancelled because organisers were not able to guarantee there would be no men present."

WTF??? There should be no place in British schools for the people who ordered or condoned this.

[ANOTHER] Will their be arrests and prosecutions amongst the staff? And what to do about all those parents who are presumably quite comfortable with their children being exposed this hardline Islamism? Give them a slap on the wrist and keep our fingers crossed? [The Guardian] Read more