A Muslim-majority academy at the centre of a row over alleged Islamic fundamentalism in Birmingham is the victim of a “witch-hunt”, a governor at the school has claimed.
David Hughes, a trustee and governor at Park View school in Birmingham for more than 15 years, said the secondary was under attack “under the pretext of concerns about extremism and threats to the education of pupils”.
In recent weeks the school, in the Alum Rock area of the city, has been subject to emergency investigations by the schools inspectorate Ofsted and the Education Funding Agency (EFA).
According to Liam Byrne, the local Labour MP, the inspections were triggered by “serious” complaints from former and present staff. There were reportedly concerns over financial mismanagement and alleged extremist preaching during assemblies. “When allegations are made, they need investigating. We can’t just ignore them,” Byrne said.
But Hughes, who is a Christian, accused the Ofsted team of giving “every indication of having no wish other than to condemn the school – even the outstanding features.”
Writing in the school’s spring newsletter, Hughes claimed “in all my time as a governor we have not received a single complaint about ‘extremism’ or ‘radicalism’. If we had we would have investigated it openly and thoroughly.”
Birmingham schools are not at the centre of a Muslim extremist stealth plot to radicalise pupils and claims of a Trojan Horse-type takeover are without foundation, city council chief executive Mark Rogers has insisted.
Dutch politician Geert Wilders has once again become the subject of controversy after he led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant during a campaign rally last month. Despite the mass condemnation he has received for the remarks, Wilders’ anti-Muslim counterparts in the United States are standing by his draconian approach to immigration.
“Arun Kundnani’s book, vastly more intelligent than the usual ‘war on terror’ verbiage, focuses on the war’s domestic edge in Britain and America. His starting point is this: ‘Terrorism is not the product of radical politics but a symptom of political impotence.’ The antidote therefore seems self-evident: ‘A strong, active and confident Muslim community enjoying its civic rights to the full.’ Yet policy on both sides of the Atlantic has ended by criminalising Muslim opinion, silencing speech and increasing social division. These results may make political violence more, not less, likely.”