An alliance of campaigners and parents from schools caught up in allegations of a radical Muslim takeover plot at Birmingham schools have attacked the Government’s “provocative and unhelpful” response.
Measures taken during the investigations, including appointing former counter-terrorism chief Peter Clarke to study claims of extremism in some Birmingham schools, have been criticised by leading campaigner Shabina Bano who claims it is spreading “fear and intimidation” in classrooms.
Two weeks ago the head of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw, concluded there “was a culture of fear and intimidation in some schools” after the publication of an unprecedented series of inspections, triggered by the so-called Trojan Horse claims.
At a meeting on Thursday night at the Bordesley Centre, on Stratford Road in Camp Hill, campaigners said the central claim, contained in the Trojan Horse letter, that there was an extremist agenda remained “unproven” following those inspections.
Ofsted did find some schools were failing adequately to protect pupils from the risks of radicalisation, concluding some governors had exerted undue influence.
At a public meeting attended by up to 1,000 people, Salma Yaqoob, the former leader of Respect, said while there were real issues of poor governance to tackle it was necessary to “de-link this issue from terrorism and radicalisation”.
Campaigners, with the backing of National Union of Teachers’ Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney and former education commissioner Sir Tim Brighouse, have come together under the banner of Putting Birmingham School Kids First, in an effort to “challenge the narrative” which they claim has stigmatised Muslim pupils.
Former counter-terrorism advisor Jahan Mahmood claimed the Government was “shooting itself in the foot” with what he said was a heavy-handed approach. He believes the response of Education Secretary Michael Gove to order Ofsted into 21 city schools, had only increased the risks of young Muslims being radicalised. “Young people will now be Googling extremism,” he said.
He also believes the Government’s counter-terrorism narrative is “confused”. “On one hand, the Government say ‘hey you, Muslim, challenge your young people on the ideology of al-Qaeda’ but then it’s OK (for the Government) to support al Qaeda affiliates in Libya, when tackling Gaddafi?” said Mr Mahmood. “They are now more confused than the extremists,” he joked, earning laughter from the diverse crowd.
Campaigners have said they want to challenge the “ill-informed debate” around the alleged plot, which first surfaced in anonymous letter now widely believed to be a hoax claiming a clique of hardline Muslim governors were attempting to seize control of schools.
“The central allegation that there was an organised plot to radicalise school children in a handful of Birmingham schools, remains unproven,” the campaign’s manifesto stated. “What the Ofsted reports show is some governance issues in some schools.”
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