UK MUSLIM PUPILS SURVEY REJECTED AS “RACIST”
London, 11 Sya’ban 1436/19 May 2015 (MINA) – A counter extremism survey by an east London borough council directed at Muslim young students has sparked criticism from British Muslims, accusing the local council of trying to profile Muslim children.
The questionnaire was clearly racist and Islamophobic and accused the local council of trying to profile Muslim children, Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission said, On Islam quote by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
The controversy erupted after Waltham Forest London borough council asked year 5 and 6 pupils at five schools, as young as 9, to fill in a so called counter extremism questionnaire.
The survey included detailed questions about their beliefs, giving them several leading statements concerning the strength of their feelings and how far they might go to defend their religion to assess.
The statements include, “Religious books are to be understood word for word”, “I believe my religion is the only correct one”, “God has a purpose for me” and “I would do what a grown up told me to do even if it seemed odd to me”.
The survey has generated an outcry online, with many warning that it is “criminalizing Muslim children” with its “implicit assumptions”.
“Is the purpose of this form to make sure kids lose all trust in the system as early as possible?” one Twitter user said.
Other commentators referred to the criminalization of Muslim children and said it was undoubtedly aimed at that one religion.
Facing criticism, schools were forced to write to parents to defend and explain the move after it was circulated on social media.
“The school takes extremely seriously its responsibility to develop pupils’ understanding of the world in which we live and our duty to create a community that is respectful of all religions, faiths and beliefs,” Kathleen Wheeler, the executive head of Buxton Primary School, said.
She added that the Building Resilience Through Integration and Trust project was being piloted in primaries across the borough by the local authority and was funded by the European Commission.
Waltham Forest council denied the anonymous questionnaire was “directed at pupils of any particular faith” and said it was “completely voluntary” to primary schools.
“The Building Resilience through Integration & Trust project is a Council program that works with primary school pupils and their families to develop community cohesion,” councilors Mark Rusling and Liaquat Ali said in a statement.
“The feedback received so far about the program from local primary schools has been positive with more wanting to take part in the program.
“We encourage parents to get involved and when we start working in an individual school we invite them to an initial session to talk about the focus and content of the project which includes lots of different materials which are in no way directed at pupils of any particular faith.
“We’re glad that this has sparked a debate as our aim is to encourage people to talk about the importance of cohesion at all ages.”
Shadjareh, however, expressed concerns that if children answered honestly to any of the questions they could be put on a watch list.
“They’re obviously targeting Muslim children and trying to pick their brains and thoughts and effectively profile them,” he said.
“But at this young age we should be thinking of nurturing and developing our children, not compartmentalizing them.
“It’s also clearly racist and Islamophobic and there would be uproar if they had mentioned ‘Jew’ or ‘black’ in the identity question.
“This reminds me of the prelude to the Nazi holocaust when Jews were profiled before they started putting Stars of David on them.” (T/P006/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
