Birmingham school accused of brain washing

[StLucieBengal]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/salafi-muslim-parents-claimed-christmas-10575765#ICID=sharebar_twitter

Quote:Parents attempted to ban school from putting up Christmas decorations

A group of Salafi Muslim parents with “extreme” Islamic views claimed a Birmingham school was “brainwashing” their children by allowing them to take part in Christmas nativity plays, a tribunal heard.

One parent pulled their child out of a class teaching about the Hindu celebration Diwali, while others refused to allow their children to attend swimming lessons because “their legs and heads would be uncovered”, Kadeer Arif, former chair of governors at Adderley Primary School, claimed.

And some parents attempted to lobby the Saltley school to ban it from putting up Christmas decorations and to remove music from the curriculum, said Mr Arif.

The parents, who formed the Adderley School Parents Group (ASPG) and shared ideas on a private Facebook page, caused “colossal” problems, claimed Mr Arif.


Mr Arif’s claims came while giving evidence at an employment tribunal in which four teaching assistants from the school are claiming unfair dismissal - alleging resignation letters they purportedly signed and sent to headteacher Rizvana Darr at the end of 2012 were forgeries.

The teaching assistants - Hilary Owens, Rehena Khanom, Yasmin Akhtar, and Shahnaz Bibi - all had formal grievances against the head at the time of the alleged forged resignation letters.

In his witness statement Mr Arif claimed ASPG met regularly at Ms Akhtar’s house, while she and Ms Khanom “developed close relationships with the local Salafi community”.

He said the teaching assistants were part of the Salafi parents’ attempt to Islamise the school, creating “huge problems and instability”.

He said that after Mrs Darr was appointed head in 2009 “the dissent hatched up”. Salafi is an ultra conservative movement within Sunni Islam and supports Sharia or Islamic law.

Mr Arif, who left the school in 2012 after marrying Mrs Darr, said both he and his wife were regularly “challenged” by parents over their own personal religious beliefs.

“The appointment of Mrs Darr was quite controversial; Mrs Darr is a Sunni Muslim and chooses not to cover her hair with a hijab. This, coupled with the fact that she is a female in authority, was not received well by some of the stricter Muslim community,” he said.

And he claimed Mrs Darr is still to this day regularly “verbally abused” by the Safali community who hurl “highly personal” insults at her.

He said some staff members became “sympathetic “ to the Safali parents’ views and in turn became “disruptive” - with 16 staff all calling in sick on one single day back in 2006.

Meanwhile, “significant pressure” from the group of parents saw nine headteachers quit.

When asked if he believed Ms Owens, a practicing Christian, could have been behind an attempt to Islamise the school, Mr Arif said he did not.

He described her as “gullible”, adding: “She is not a horrible person at all, she came across as a pleasant person.

“The issue that was raised about her was that if staff asked her to do something she was not happy about like going into a classroom to cover, she would cry, sob or fold her arms.”

The school and its governors have claimed the resignation letters were part of efforts by the four teaching assistants to destabilise Adderley, as set out in the anonymous “Trojan Horse” letter.

The letter, supposedly penned by one conspirator to another, details an alleged plot by hardline Sunni Muslims to take over governing bodies, oust teachers and Islamise schools. The letter was leaked in late 2013 but is now widely regarded as a hoax.

All four teaching assistants flatly deny being part of any “conspiracy”.

The “Trojan Horse” letter came to light while the four women were proceeding with an employment tribunal against Adderley school.

Among the investigations into Trojan Horse was a probe commissioned by the Department for Education and carried out by former Met counter-terrorism commander Peter Clarke.

His report stated: “There is a detailed description of a plan by some members of staff at Adderley Primary School to falsely accuse the headteacher of forging their letters of resignation.

He added: “It is worthy of note that at the time the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter was received by Birmingham City Council, none of the details of the Adderley Primary allegations were in the public domain, leading to the inevitable conclusion that the author of the letter was someone with detailed knowledge of what was happening at the school.”

[Mike M (the other one)]

I need to read more about it, before I form an opinion.

[GMDino]

http://adderleyprimary.co.uk/

Looks like it is a private school.

And it sounds not much different than when a good Christian family complains about "happy holidays" or having their child be exposed to a book they feel goes against their religious teachings.

[StLucieBengal]

Teachers religious beliefs are irrelevant. Unless they are being unprofessional and recruiting for their religion while at school.

As for the parents not wanting their kids to swim. That's fine they can take an 0 for that lesson. Or the teacher can give them an alternate written lesson.

And a women can lead a school without wearing a hijab. This is living in the west. These parents should be accepting this and assimilating as this lady has...

[GMDino]

(12-12-2015, 01:08 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Teachers religious beliefs are irrelevant.  Unless they are being unprofessional and recruiting for their religion while at school.  

As for the parents not wanting their kids to swim.   That's fine they can take an 0 for that lesson.   Or the teacher can give them an alternate written lesson.  

And a women can lead a school without wearing a hijab.  This is living in the west.   These parents should be accepting this and assimilating as this lady has...

Unless it is a religious/private school.

I went to Catholic school.  They shoved religion in to every place they could.  

[Mike M (the other one)]

Well if it's a private school, then they have a little more control over the curriculum and who they hire.

It's not much different than when one of my friends, who was a good teacher at a Catholic Private school for over a decade, was fired when a new Dean came in and made it a requirement that all teachers be active practitioners in the Church. She was not a Catholic so she lost her job.

Now there could be legalities involved if they can prove that their resignations were indeed forged.

[StLucieBengal]

(12-12-2015, 01:38 PM)GMDino Wrote: Unless it is a religious/private school.

I went to Catholic school.  They shoved religion in to every place they could.  

If this is a religious school then that's fine. But causing issues because the women in charge isn't the right kind of religion or because she won't dress like a slave or underling is not the way we do business in the west.

They can assimilate or get out:

[Vas Deferens]

(12-12-2015, 01:08 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Teachers religious beliefs are irrelevant.  Unless they are being unprofessional and recruiting for their religion while at school.  

As for the parents not wanting their kids to swim.   That's fine they can take an 0 for that lesson.   Or the teacher can give them an alternate written lesson.  

And a women can lead a school without wearing a hijab.  This is living in the west.   These parents should be accepting this and assimilating as this lady has...

Your complete disregard for grammar and sentence structure makes it difficult to read your posts and interpret them as the view of a well-informed individual.  As you stated recently, "details matter."  Try to hold yourself to the same standard.  This is western civilization. Assimilate. 

[Rotobeast]

(12-12-2015, 05:01 PM)Vas Deferens Wrote: Your complete disregard for grammar and sentence structure makes it difficult to read your posts and interpret them as the view of a well-informed individual.  As you stated recently, "details matter."  Try to hold yourself to the same standard.  This is western civilization. Assimilate. 

Does Florida really count ?

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(12-12-2015, 01:38 PM)GMDino Wrote: They shoved religion in to every place they could.  

I've heard that about Catholics.  I hope they were at least gentle about it.

[Vas Deferens]

(12-12-2015, 05:54 PM)Rotobeast Wrote: Does Florida really count ?

Apparently they enacted a stand your ignorance law.  It's working gooder 

[BmorePat87]

So a private school with a Muslim majority, run almost entirely by Muslims, is having a disagreement over how religious the school should be? Some want it more conservative while others want it more moderate?

Sounds like the free market will work this problem out. That's how private schools work, right?

[GMDino]

(12-13-2015, 02:09 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: So a private school with a Muslim majority, run almost entirely by Muslims, is having a disagreement over how religious the school should be? Some want it more conservative while others want it more moderate?

Sounds like the free market will work this problem out. That's how private schools work, right?

I highlighted the only parts of the story Lucy cares about.