News
Pupils and staff at school involved in Trojan Horse affair ‘used antisemitic language’
October 23, 2015 12:40
A Birmingham school involved in the Trojan Horse scandal encouraged “antisemitic language” between staff and pupils and welcomed speakers from the Jewish anti-Zionist sect Neturei Karta, according to a former staff member who spoke at a disciplinary hearing for teachers involved.
The former teacher, who was head of geography at Park View Academy in Birmingham, said she “heard both pupils and staff use antisemitic language.
“Pupils would say to staff or other pupils ‘you Jew boy’, which was considered a derogatory term.”
The teacher, referred to as Witness A, was testifying before the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) misconduct panel looking into the affair.
Three hearings are taking place in both Coventry and Birmingham against five staff members at Park View, including the school’s then-head Lindsey Clark, teacher Razwan Faraz and then-assistant head Arshad Hussain, who all allegedly agreed to “the inclusion of an undue amount of religious influence in the education of pupils”.
According to Witness A, Ms Clark was aware that “racist and homophobic comments were an ongoing problem” at the school and that there was “an increase in antisemitic graffiti in pupils’ books”.
However, the former head allegedly only responded once in a message sent to senior staff members, asking: “What are your thoughts on the matter?”
Witness A also described to the panel an occasion when Neturei Karta’s Aaron Cohen delivered an hour-long assembly to Parkview’s pupils.
She said: “Our pupils were being fed entirely inappropriate and biased information, which was in particular antisemitic, at an event organised by Razwan Faraz and attended by Monzoor Hussain.”
The Trojan Horse scandal erupted in 2014, when it emerged that several schools with high numbers of Muslim pupils in Birmingham – including Park View Academy – were being infiltrated by Islamists.
If found guilty of unacceptable professional misconduct by the NCTL, which is due to release its report in late December, those involved could be banned from teaching for life.
