Islamophobic bullying in schools spikes after Paris attacks

The Independent on Saturday featured a front page story on the rise in Islamophobic incidents in schools following the murders at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris.

The paper reports that a number of incidents have been logged in which Muslim pupils have been verbally or physically abused as teachers prepare classroom exercises exploring issues of religion, offence and freedom of speech.

The news article comes days after a Scottish paper, the Evening Times, disclosed figures on racist bullying in schools in Scotland released under Freedom of Information.

The Independent quotes a spokesperson from the teachers’ union NASUWT who told the paper that Muslim pupils were being taunted with jibes like “terrorists”, “paedophiles” or “immigrants”. The NASUWT further said that the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in schools was causing “uncertainty and fear”.

It was a year ago that the children’s charities, NSPCC and ChildLine, published a report on the counselling provided to pupils in schools who were victims of bullying. The report found that racist bullying had increased by 69% in the year 2011-2012 with Muslim children abused with words like “terrorist” and “bomber” and told to “go back to where they came from”. The report also referred to the conflation of racial and religious prejudice with the issue of immigration.

Laura Pidcock, education team manager of Show Racism the Red Card, a charity which has produced teaching packs to help teachers plan lessons for schoolchildren with the aim of challenging racial and religious prejudice told the Independent: “What we are seeing is a process of homogenisation between immigrants and Islam. Young children equate immigrants with Muslims, and Muslims with immigrants. There is a perception of Muslims as a single collective body and a sense that this can be a threat. We would like to see room made in the curriculum for the sort of work that encourages pupils to think for themselves and challenge these sort of views.”

Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: “For many teachers and pupils across the UK, there is a growing sense that the promotion of anti-Islamic sentiments is fostering a climate of uncertainty and fear in schools. Teachers are in the frontline in promoting and advancing human values and human rights.”

The Independent also notes the response of the Department of Education to information about the rise in Islamophobic bullying in schools. A spokesperson told the paper that the DfE “did not provide specific advice on Islamophobia to schools but said it had no opposition to suitable material on the issue being distributed.”

The DfE not taking a proactive approach to rising Islamophobia in schools is to be contrasted with the support given by theDepartment for Communities and Local Government to schools to tackle anti-Semitism. In its 2012 Hate Crime Strategy, DCLG is tasked with overseeing “Support [for] the Jewish Museum to roll out a pilot programme to secondary schools to raise awareness and understanding of Jewish Faith and tackle ‘casual’ anti-semitism in schools.”

The Coalition’s track record in showing any comparable regard for rising Islamophobia in British society is something we have criticised a number of times. In an election year, maybe the Government will be minded to take note?