Muslims in the news again. Birmingham school governor denies ‘Trojan Horse’ plot claims
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A governor at a Birmingham school alleged to be the target of an “Islamic takeover plot†has described the claims as a “witch huntâ€.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
David Hughes, a governor at Park View School, defended it against what he said were “unfounded attacksâ€.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
The Department for Education (DfE) is investigating 12 schools over the alleged plot.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
Ten MPs have asked for the council and DfE to jointly review any lessons to be learned following the investigation.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
In a letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove the Birmingham MPs said it was “essential†such a review was undertaken, led by an advisor appointed by the two organisations.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
A so-called “Operation Trojan Horse†letter claimed responsibility for leadership changes at four Birmingham schools, but its authenticity has not been established.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px] ‘No complaints’[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
Mr Hughes, who describes himself as a “white, practising Anglican Christianâ€, has been a governor at the Alum Rock school for more than 15 years.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
“In all my time as a governor we have not received a single complaint about ‘extremism’ or ‘radicalism’.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
“If we had we would have investigated it openly and thoroughly,†he said.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
Ofsted has confirmed it is carrying out a number of snap inspections at Birmingham schools, including Park View, at the request of the DfE.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
Mr Hughes said he suspected the school would receive a negative Ofsted report, despite previously being rated as “outstandingâ€.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
“The revisit of the inspection team gave every indication of having no wish other than to condemn the school – even the outstanding features,†he said.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
“Are there areas to improve at the school? Yes of course, as there are at most schools.â€[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
An Ofsted spokeswoman declined to comment on the remarks.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px] ‘Fictitious allegations’[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
Last week Michael White, a former teacher at Park View School, said he was dismissed in 2003 after raising concerns about extremism among governors.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
But Mr Hughes dismissed the claims, saying “at no time†during a disciplinary panel had Mr White raised concerns.[/SIZE] [SIZE=12px]
He said some former staff members were “smearing†the school and “sharing fictitious allegationsâ€.
Ofsted – The tool used by “muscular liberals” to convert Muslim children
Ofsted has become the tool for the ‘forced conversion’ of Muslim kids, writes Dr Abdul Wahid.
Britain’s “counter-extremism” policy, Prevent is a lie. It has nothing to do with protecting the public from bombs, guns and knives. Over the past few years, it has slowly exposed itself as an exercise in demonising political and religious views by calling them “extreme”, so making “Joe Public” fearful that the people who hold those views are only a step away from acts of ‘terror’.
Once upon a time British politicians used to pretend that they wanted to see Islam “adjusted” to fit into modern Britain. Now they’ve dropped this pretense in favour of muscular liberalism, meaning that they won’t be satisfied until a Muslim leaves his or her religion at home, espouses secular liberal values and is unquestioningly loyal to Britain’s colonial policies in the Muslim world.
Ofsted
Ofsted was once the impartial schools inspectorate. Now it has become one arm of the Secular Inquisition to force Muslims to convert to liberalism, transforming its role from inspecting school standards to dictating values.
The Witchfinder-General in the anti-Islamic witch-hunt is Ofsted chief Michael Wilshaw. In June 2014, after his investigation into the so-called “Trojan Horse” affair, he apparently told concerned parents in a closed-door meeting in Birmingham that the sum total of his investigation that there was some evidence of “bullying of teachers” and some issues of “preaching conservative Islam”. So it was Islam that was his problem – not “extremism”.
People would be forgiven for missing the actually conclusions of all the inquiries in the Birmingham case because of all the media sensationalism. The former head of the Metropolitan police’s counterterrorism command, Peter Clarke, who had been asked to investigate the “Trojan Horse” affair, concluded that there was no evidence of “terrorism, radicalisation or violent extremism in the schools of concern in Birmingham”.
This week Wilshaw has once again triggered sensational headlines – alleging that pupils at independent Muslim faith schools in Tower Hamlets may be vulnerable to “extremist influences and radicalisation” and called on the government to act with urgency!
Once again the details that eventually emerged didn’t quite match the alarmist nature of the headlines before and after, which passed their message by using different combinations of the words “Muslim”, “extremism”, “schools” – throwing in the term “radicalisation” for good measure!
The latest reports conclude the schools are “not actively and systematically promoting fundamental British values” – values that as yet remain ill-defined.
“Extremism”
One Church of England School in the area, formerly ranked as “outstanding”, has been downgraded for failing to protect pupils from extremism. The school’s sixth-form Islamic society’s Facebook page allegedly had links to a speaker who apparently might once have said something critical of homosexuality.
In 21st century Britain, no one bothers to look beyond a selective quote of what a speaker may or may not once have said. That is usually enough to pin an “extremist” label on any speaker, and indeed anyone inadvertently tainted by a tenuous associated.
Today, the mere mention of the word “extremist” has the same effect as saying “Communist” in 1950s America. The term is defined so broadly it can be used arbitrarily, creating a hysteria that allows governments to pursue almost any policy they wish – whether it is to invade another country, institute police-state measures against Muslims or (as in this case) to force a community to change their beliefs and views.
By deliberately conflating the views of socially conservative or politically outspoken Muslims with violence, successive British governments have justify deeply oppressive and bigoted policies, in a manner that would make Moscow or Beijing proud.
Muscular liberalism
Speaking in June 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, ”we need to be far more muscular in promoting British values”. He has advocated this “muscular” approach before, against those who hold Islamic values and are critical of state policy towards Muslims and the Islamic world.
But it now appears that children are their biggest target. It is as if they have accepted they have no hope with the over 20s, so are intent on forcibly converting young Muslims to their values. Ofsted has become the thought-police in implementing these policies – targeting the souls of the children, not just their minds.
Numerous anecdotes have emerged as evidence for this over several months. Inspectors have allegedly interrogated primary school children alone about matters of sexuality. They have allegedly told teachers at Muslim primary schools that posters depicting statements of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) opposing racism or promoting environmentalism are “too Islamic”, and should be replaced by statements by Mandela, Gandhi or Martin Luther King.
Anyone who resists this forced conversion either has to go through a form of compulsory re-education – known as the Channel programme – or be punished in one of a series of ways like being ridiculed or demonised.
The Prophet of Islam and the earliest Muslim community in Makkah faced a similar situation. They were labelled as dissenters, agitators and traitors. They faced verbal and physical abuse, as well as economic sanctions.
But eventually, the general public from amongst the non-Muslims of Makkah oppose the sanctions and vilification encouraged by their leaders. Despite the propaganda, the abuse meted out to Muslims exposed the oppressors as failing to have an argument to counter the Islamic argument – as well as being a nasty and vindictive bunch.
Amongst all this, there is one thing people should not forget. In bullying Muslim children, the state cannot expect that Muslim parents will simply shrug their shoulders and accept a narrow set of values to be forced on their kids.
It may well be that these unjust rulers will hear more than a word or two of truth from the Muslim mums and dads!
Re: Birmingham school governor denies ‘Trojan Horse’ plot claims
Salaam
This is getting really crazy.
Anti-terror plan to spy on toddlers ‘is heavy-handed’
Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Government.
The directive is contained in a 39-page consultation document issued by the Home Office in a bid to bolster its Prevent anti-terrorism plan.
Critics said the idea was “unworkable” and “heavy-handed”, and accused the Government of treating teachers and carers as “spies”.
The document accompanies the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently before parliament. It identifies nurseries and early years childcare providers, along with schools and universities, as having a duty “to prevent people being drawn into terrorism”.
The consultation paper adds: “Senior management and governors should make sure that staff have training that gives them the knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimise terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups.
“They should know where and how to refer children and young people for further help.”
But concern was raised over the practicalities of making it a legal requirement for staff to inform on toddlers.
David Davis, the Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary, said: “It is hard to see how this can be implemented. It is unworkable. I have to say I cannot understand what they [nursery staff] are expected to do.
“Are they supposed to report some toddler who comes in praising a preacher deemed to be extreme? I don’t think so.
“It is heavy-handed.”
Mr Davis also accused the Home Office of pushing the legislation too quickly.
Isabella Sankey, the policy director at human rights body Liberty, said: “Turning our teachers and childminders into an army of involuntary spies will not stop the terrorist threat.
“Far from bringing those at the margins back into mainstream society, it will sow seeds of mistrust, division and alienation from an early age.
“The Government should focus on projects to support vulnerable young people – instead they’re playing straight into terrorists’ hands by rushing through a Bill that undermines our democratic principles and turns us into a nation of suspects.”
Headteachers’ union NAHT, said it was “uneasy” with the new guidance. General secretary Russell Hobby, said: “It’s really important that nurseries are able to establish a strong relationship of trust with families, as they are often the first experience the families will have of the education system.
“Any suspicions that they are evaluating families for ideology could be quite counterproductive.
“Nursery settings should focus on the foundations of literacy and socialising with other children – those are the real ‘protections’.”
Schools and nurseries, he said, should not be required to act as a police service.
A Home office spokesman last night said: “We are not expecting teachers and nursery workers to carry out unnecessary intrusion into family life, but we do expect them to take action when they observe behaviour of concern.
He added: “It is important that children are taught fundamental British values in an age-appropriate way. For children in the early years, this will be about learning right from wrong and in practitioners challenging negative attitudes and stereotypes.
“We would expect staff to have the training they need to identify children at risk of radicalisation and know where and how to refer them for further help if necessary.”
It is understood ministers will expect nursery staff to report for example, anti-Semitic comments made in front of them by toddlers.
“We would not expect this behaviour to be ignored,” said a source. Other examples of children at risk of radicalisation include instances where a Muslim child might tell a teacher that he has been taught at a religious school, or madrassah, that all non-Muslims “are wicked”.
Re: Birmingham school governor denies ‘Trojan Horse’ plot claims
Salaam
And another update
Ofsted Trojan horse inspectors ‘asked 10-year-olds what do lesbians do?’
Ofsted inspectors questioned 10-year-old children at a leading Christian school about lesbian sex and transsexuality to test whether it was complying with new requirements to promote “British values”, the school has complained.
They are said to have pressed primary aged girls at Grindon Hall Christian School, in Sunderland, on whether they knew what lesbians “did” and if any of their friends felt trapped in the “wrong body”.
They also allegedly questioned children as young as six about their knowledge of Hindu festivals and the Jewish Torah as part of a special inspection in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal, involving infiltration by hard-line Muslim groups into schools in Birmingham.
Chris Gray, principal of the former private school, which is now part of the Government’s flagship free school programme, has formally complained to Ofsted accusing the inspection team of adopting a “hostile” and suspicious stance towards its Christian foundation.
Sixth formers at the school, which teaches children from age four to 18, have also written complaining that inspectors appeared to be “manipulating” the conversation during group discussions about racism and homophobia, seemingly determined to “discredit” the school.
It is the latest in a series of cases in which it has been alleged that rules intended to combat extremism are being used to put pressure on schools with a religious foundation.
The guidelines, introduced by the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan last year, require schools actively to promote “British values” including democracy, liberty and tolerance.
Mr Gray was a vocal supporter of the guidance when it was published. In an article on the school website he told parents: “Just as we rightly expect tolerance from others, so we must always show huge respect for those who believe differently from us, who come from different backgrounds and whose sexual orientation is different from the majority.
“That we will do – Mrs Morgan and Ofsted are only telling us to do what our own values lead us to do and hopefully this will be replicated in every school in Britain.”
But he said that when inspectors arrived unannounced before Christmas they appeared determined to find evidence that the school was encouraging intolerance.
“The view was that the Christian ethos of the school was adversely affecting our ability to be open non-discriminatory, and tolerant,” he said.
“I think that is upside down thinking.”
He said there had been a noticeable divergence between the inspectors’ feedback of discussions they had had with pupils and what he understood from the children themselves.
“Everything was as negative as it could possibly be, if there was a negative slant they could put on something they did,” he said.
In his complaint to Ofsted he added: “The tenor of the inspection was negative and hostile at every stage, as if the data collected had to fit a predetermined outcome.”
He explained: “In the feedback with the [lead inspector], it was suggested that a response from one child to the effect of querying how it is possible to have two mums was viewed as indicating a lack of awareness of lesbian relationships.
“Actually, I understand the child concerned was merely thinking in biological terms.
“In addition, I have also heard reports of primary schoolchildren being asked if they knew of any boys or girls who thought they were in the ‘wrong body’.
“Another parent has complained to me in writing that her 10-year-old daughter was asked if she knew what lesbians ‘did’.
“Pupils were embarrassed and surprised to be asked questions about sexuality.”
He added: “I am also concerned that the manner and content of questioning of pupils crossed the line into harassment.
“I am further concerned that the questioning of pupils by Ofsted crossed a line into areas which fall outside its authority.
“Under the ‘British values’ requirements, our school is under a duty to promote respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
“However, I am alarmed that the questions asked of pupils sought to test the pupils’ religious knowledge.”
A spokeswoman for Ofsted said: “We are committed to making sure all pupils in England receive a broad and balanced education.
“One part of how we assess this is through talking to pupils to consider the extent to which they are being prepared for the next stages in their lives.
“Ofsted is not looking for answers to questions which are contrary to their faith. Nor do we require evidence that schools ‘promote’ other faiths. Instead, inspectors must ensure that pupils are able to express views which are neither intolerant nor discriminatory towards others.
“Ofsted takes all concerns about its work seriously. We will be considering the issues raised by the school as part of our normal quality assurance arrangements.”
Re: Birmingham school governor denies ‘Trojan Horse’ plot claims
Salaam
Another comment piece.
British values... it's a baffling topic these days
You'd never guess just how few homosexuals there were from the way we go on about it. In a spot check to make sure their Christian school was teaching ‘British values’, baffled tots in Sunderland were asked by government inspectors about ‘what lesbians do’.
Almost immediately after this revelation, plans were announced in Manchester for an entire school devoted to homosexual, bisexual and transgender children.
I’m not actually against such a school, if enough people want it. Let a hundred flowers bloom, as far as I’m concerned. Let’s have atheist schools, too, and see how they work out.
But if we can select pupils on the grounds of their sexual orientation, why is it illegal to select on the grounds of ability? Something wrong here, surely?
As for the lesbian question, I was 12 before I even knew what a call-girl was, let alone a lesbian, and look how I turned out – not to mention my grasp of ‘British values’.
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