Diversity. What to do? We are told to celebrate it. It makes us stronger. Its their culture, you see. Its their religious freedom. You don’t want to be called a ‘racist-bigot-Islamophobe’, do you?
Muslim primary school students threaten to behead teacher, Education Dept dismisses her complaints
“She said the final straw was when she received death threats to her family from her year 5 and 6 students, with some saying they would behead her….She said she was abused by students when she stopped them from hanging a Syrian flag in the classroom. The woman also said she was pushed into a corner by several students who then began marching around her chanting the Koran.”
These are students in year 5 and 6, which means they are between ten and twelve, and they are learning this at home. The implications of that for the future of Australian society are not important enough for Education Department officials to bother contemplating. The future will be glorious and multicultural. What could possibly go wrong?
Teachers at a primary school in Sydney, Australia have been threatened with beheading and other violence from young Islamic students, prompting one of them to quit her job.
Students as young as those in Year 5, according to the Daily Telegraph, are making the violent threats and pressuring others to read the Koran at Punchbowl Public School in Sydney.
One female teacher reportedly quit her job after it got too much for her. She claims she quit after receiving death threats to her family from her year 5 and 6 students, with some saying they would behead her.
The teacher also said she made numerous complaints back in 2014 about the extraordinary behavior in the class. For example, she said, she was abused by students after she stopped them from hanging a Syrian flag in the classroom.
In another example, she claimed she was pushed into a corner by students who began marching around her chanting the Koran.
The bullying wasn’t restricted to teachers. The woman also reported an incident where children bullied other students by saying that someone had “betrayed his religion” by “not going to Muslim scripture”. In another incident, she said a “group of boys had stood around a girl and called her horrible names like dog”.
The region’s education department didn’t deny any teachers received a compensation. However, they insisted they weren’t aware of any instances of religious-related violence at the school.
“All NSW schools must immediately report all concerns of anti-social and extremist behavior in NSW schools to a dedicated hotline,” a spokesman said.
“The Department of Education continues to work closely with law enforcement agencies on such matters. To maintain effective operations and protect the privacy of students, the department will not identify schools participating in these programs.”
No surprises here:
Help to fight radicals refused
Muslim schools resist anti-radicalisation program
There have been claims that students at Punchbowl Public School have shown signs of extremist ideolog.
Principals at several Muslim schools in Sydney have rejected overtures to introduce a NSW government-backed deradicalisation program, raising further doubts about the effectiveness of the multi-million-dollar initiative.
Revelations that Punchbowl Boys High School had resisted the School Communities Working Together program, along with fresh claims that students as young as 10 at Punchbowl Public School were showing signs of extremist ideology, have highlighted the importance of the program, which the state government has admitted is in need of review.
Jan Ali, a University of Sydney terrorism expert and member of the Premier’s expert advisory council on countering violent extremism, said he knew of two principals in Sydney Islamic schools who were “totally against its introduction”.
“The program assumes that there is a problem within the school, often without any empirical evidence,” Dr Ali said.
“I don’t think that any research went into what principals or teachers think about this sort of program in schools and whether it’s worthwhile or not.
Punchbowl a school ‘of tolerance, diversity’Punchbowl a school ‘of tolerance, diversity’
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“There is a perception in the Muslim community that this is a program that has been developed in the absence of co-operation or extensive consultation with the schools, particularly Muslim schools.”
The program was part of a $47 million counter-terrorism initiative unveiled by former premier Mike Baird in November 2015, largely in response the Parramatta terrorist attack in which police worker Curtis Cheng was shot and killed by a radicalised teenager.
So far 19 schools have taken up the program, which provides resources and training for schools, teachers and parents to help them identify young people at risk of radicalisation and help them access support services.
The Education Department has declined to identify the schools already involved, but a spokesman said a collaborative approach had been taken designing the program, with involvement from schools, government agencies, parent representative bodies, academics and community groups.
While denying that a formal review was on the cards, Education Minister Rob Stokes said he was open to looking at the program, and taking advice on how it is working and what can be done to encourage more schools to take it up.
His comments followed the removal of Punchbowl Boys High principal Chris Griffiths and deputy Joumana Dennaoui from the school earlier this month in light of the school’s refusal to implement the program.
The department declined to confirm whether schools, other than Punchbowl, had been resistant to the program.
The department and police are understood to have had concerns that students within the school, which has a large Muslim population, posed a serious risk of radicalisation.
But Mr Griffiths was opposed to the program, believing that it could potentially destabilise the school community.
Dr Ali said a review of the program was a positive step, arguing that the program needed to be broadly acceptable to schools and their communities — which were ultimately parents — if it was to have a chance of being effective.
“Parents want to know how they can keep their children a safe distance from radicalisation and how they can ensure …. children or pockets of deviancy are managed and do not spiral out of control,” Dr Ali said.
School in crisis as non-Muslim parents claim they are being excluded
Nervous parents of students attending controversy-riddled Punchbowl Primary School have raised the alarm on their peers, saying they’re encouraging their own children to be violent.
Concerned mothers and fathers said they had noticed a disturbing culture of groupism where non-Muslim parents and children are excluded by groups.
“(They) reject the school rules around violence,” one father told News Corp.
“Some of those parents … want to let their son or daughter be violent in school.”
“If I’m talking to someone, those parents won’t make eye contact, I don’t really know what the school is doing to break that up,” a concerned mother added.
The claims come one day after terrified teachers revealed students were showing signs of extreme radicalisation at a young age, saying they have been traumatised by threats of beheading and other violent behaviour.
One woman reportedly claimed it all got too much for her and she eventually had to quit her job.
- Principal, deputy sacked after excluding female staff members at Sydney high school
- ‘Come and pray’: Parents claim Sydney public school is ‘run like a mosque’
- Punchbowl Boys High School principal vows to teach students lesson in Australian values
She said the final straw was when she received death threats to her family from her year 5 and 6 students, with some saying they would behead her.
Prior to that she claimed she made a number of complaints in 2014 about some of the behaviour in her classroom, including abuse when she stopped them from hanging a Syrian flag in the classroom.
The woman also said she was pushed into a corner by several students who then began marching around her chanting the Koran.
Many of the students also reportedly spoke of family members fighting in the war in Syria and pupils would walk out mid-way through a lesson to go and pray.
Led by NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes, officials were forced to intervene this week as the headline-riddled school continues to suffer from the fallout of their sacked principal.
Islam convert Chris Griffiths was accused of alienating non-Muslim teachers with his Muslim-only plan. He also allegedly planned to only allow Muslim students into the public school before he was unceremoniously stood down.
“Potentially destablise”? In other words, what the Muslim kids heard at school would conflict with Islam’s teachings. We can’t have that, can we.