Education“Aggressive” Islamic effort to influence Birmingham, U.K. schools: Report
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.
