|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
April 7, 2015
|
|
U.K.
May Fire 100 Islamist Educators in "Trojan Horse" Scandal
by John Rossomando • Apr 7, 2015
at 3:59 pm
|
|
|
|
Share:
|
Be the
first of your friends to like this.
At least 100 Islamist teachers and teaching assistants implicated in
last year's "Trojan Horse" teaching scandal in Birmingham,
England may face lifetime teaching bans.
Last June, the U.K.'s Office for Standards in Education, Children's
Services and Skills (Ofsted) found evidence that hardline Islamists had attempted to take
control of some state schools. The report found that staff and headteachers
felt "intimidated," "undermined" or bullied into making
changes they opposed.
Some headteachers with records of improving classroom standards were
either marginalized or forced out of their jobs. In some cases, teachers
faced unfair treatment due to their gender or religious beliefs.
The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), which oversees
teachers in the U.K. and has the authority to ban them, is reviewing 30
cases, but as many as 100 teachers and assistants may be targeted.
The Sunday Times reports that NCTL obtained
dossiers on some of those educators from the U.K.'s Department of
Education. The dossiers reportedly contain information from the
"Trojan Horse" investigation, which found a "co-ordinated,
deliberate and sustained action" by a number of individuals who sought
to introduce an "intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos" into
selected Birmingham schools.
Abusive practices, such as forcing students at Park
View Academy, one of the Birmingham schools targeted by last year's
inquiry, to kneel on tiles in "stress positions" were observed by
British investigators. NCTL investigators also found that an IT technician at
Park View used school equipment to copy a video containing "typical
Al-Qaeda footage, in which the individuals had their faces obscured with
scarves and were holding guns."
Students found to be dating each other were sent to an "isolation
unit, where they work in individual booths of silence." Designated
senior students, known as prefects, were told to report romantic
relationships between students to senior staff.
More than 50 Park View teachers – called the Park View
Brotherhood – exchanged as many as 3,000 messages in a WhatsApp group that
included offensive comments about British soldiers and claimed that Lee Rigby's murder and the Boston bombings were hoaxes.
The messages also discussed segregating boys and girls.
Britain's home minister Theresa May recently called for stronger
measures against Islamic extremism in U.K. schools.
"The allegations relating to schools in Birmingham raise serious
questions about the quality of school governance and oversight
arrangements," May said. "How did it come to pass, for example, that
one of the governors at Park View was the chairman of the educational
committee of the Muslim Council of Britain? Is it true that Birmingham city
council was warned about these allegations in 2008? Is it true that the Department
of Education was warned in 2010? If so, why did nobody act?"
|
The IPT accepts no funding from
outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment