Published 29 July 2014
A report issued on 22 July by former U.K. antiterrorism chief suggests that some of the concerns raised in a letter which outlined Operation Trojan Horse — an attempt by Islamic extremists to take over British schools in Muslim neighborhoods – may be real, even if the letter itself was probably a hoax. The storm caused by the letter and the subsequent investigation and report concern more that public schools in the City of Birmingham. At issue are the clash between British and Islamic values and norms, and, more broadly, the efforts in Britain and other West Europe countries to assimilate a growing Muslim minority.
A report issued on 22 July by former U.K. antiterrorism chief suggests that some of the concerns raised in a letter which outlined Operation Trojan Horse – an attempt by Islamic extremists to take over British schools in Muslim neighborhoods – may be real, even if the letter itself was probably a hoax.
The storm caused by the letter and the subsequent investigation and report concern more that public schools in the City of Birmingham. At issue are the clash between British and Islamic values and norms, and, more broadly, the efforts in Britain and other West Europe countries to assimilate a growing Muslim minority.
The New York Times reports that according to the report by Peter Clarke, the former head of Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command, there was “coordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamic ethos into a few schools in Birmingham.”
Clarke said there was no evidence of actual radicalization, violence, or encouragement of terrorism. He told the BBC, however, that “there’s clearly been a wish to introduce what has been described as a conservative religious agenda into those schools.”
Clarke noted that Islamic hard-liners had gained influence on school boards, adding that “installing sympathetic head teachers or senior members of staff, appointing like-minded people to key positions, and seeking to remove head teachers who they do not feel to be sufficiently compliant with their agenda.”
The report said that calls to Friday Prayer were broadcast over loudspeakers – such calls were stopped during school inspections — and evidence that female members of staff were not treated equally.
Nicky Morgan, Britain’s new education secretary, told Parliament that the report’s findings were “disturbing.” She said that teachers who led the push for the unauthorized imposition of Islamic practices in schools would likely face disciplinary action and some of the teachers might be barred from the profession.
Leaders in the Muslim community and education officials in Birmingham, where 20 percent of city residents are Muslims, agree that over the past few years there has been an increase in the number of Muslim teachers in schools in majority-Muslim neighborhoods. The Times notes that they insist, however, that what the report suggests was meddling by extremists was mostly Muslims advocating to improve their children’s educational performance.
Muslim leaders in Birmingham were especially critical of Michael Gove, the former education minister who initiated the investigation, of being the driving force behind months of scrutiny which, these leaders claim, have brought the reputation of some schools “to the point of destruction.”
Some opposition lawmakers urged Morgan to repair what they described as the damage done by Gove. Liam Byrne, a Labor lawmaker, told the BBC that “We need ministers who drop the divisive rhetoric which Mr. Gove has used in the past. At times in east Birmingham we have felt like we are just a football in Michael Gove’s culture wars.”
Morgan suggested, however, that fear of being accused of racism and anti-Islamic views had allowed a “small number of people with a shared ideology” to take over schools. These people had “a restricted and narrow interpretation of their faith,” and had failed to promote fundamental British values and to challenge the extremist views of others, she said.
Morgan said that particularly shocking was evidence of a social media group, called the “Park View Brotherhood,” used by some staff members of Park View school. Clarke’s report notes that the group’s online chats included explicit homophobia; offensive comments about British soldiers; a stated ambition to increase gender segregation in the school; and a constant undercurrent of anti-Western, anti-American, and anti-Israeli sentiment.
In Britain, there is no clear line between state and religion. In fact, public schools, while nondenominational, are required to offer opportunities for collective worship. Official guidelines say that that such worship should be “wholly or mainly” Christian in character, but in schools in which the overwhelming majority of students are Muslims, head teachers may request special dispensation to hold Islamic assemblies instead.
Educational experts say the only solution to the problems revealed in Birmingham is to end all worship in state schools.
The requirement to encourage such worship has “led the community quite naturally to think that religion, apart from the agreed syllabus, had legitimate wider influence on the curriculum. It does not,” Tim Brighouse, a former chief education officer of Birmingham and schools commissioner for London, wrote in the Guardian.
“Legislation is now needed to replace the act of worship clause with the need to promote pluralism and respect for those with different faiths and none, while making sure that schools stand for those values that underpin a peaceful and civilized society.”
The Economist notes that the problems in Birmingham may bring about a retreat for the U.K. government’s bold education reforms.
Since 2010 the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has freed about 2,500 schools from local-authority control — including some of the schools at the center of Islamic influence storm in Birmingham. All these schools remain under the control of the Department for Education and must submit to inspections by the U.K. Office for Standards in Education(OFSTED), the British schools watchdog, the head teachers of these schools have considerable power to shape the curriculum.
In addition to these “academies,” parents have been encouraged to set up “free schools.”
The Economist notes that the education reforms have ruffled feathers, and posed a difficult question: How can the desire to give schools more autonomy be squared with the desire to enforce liberal values? The magazine concludes:
One sobering lesson from Birmingham is that academic results are often a poor guide to the health of a school. Park View School [the school at the center of the Trojan Horse investigation] was rated “outstanding” by OFSTED in January 2012 — a glaring misjudgment. Nor was parent power much use. Some Muslim families seem to have been happy with the social conservatism of the school.
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/
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