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Head of school targeted in 'Jihadist plot' was forced out after opposing plans to ban sex education, claim
Sources claim Balwant Bains was 'bullied and intimidated' before he left Saltley School last November after clashing with its governing body
Sources claim Balwant Bains was "bullied and intimidated" in the months before he left Saltley School last November after clashing with its governing body. The respected head, who is of Sikh origin, was allegedly undermined when governors overturned his decision to expel a Muslim pupil found with a knife. It was claimed he was also targeted in an anonymous text message that branded him a "racist, Islamophobic head teacher". Five non-Muslim governors have resigned in recent months and 12 of the school's 14 current governors are Muslim, it was reported on Sunday. The development came days after the Birmingham Mail revealed allegedly leaked documents showed Islamic fundamentalists were targeting Birmingham schools and trying to oust headteachers and other staff, including non-Muslims, through dirty tricks campaigns. The conspirators would then install their own hard-line supporters to encourage the school to move to Academy status and educate children on strict Islamic principles, it was claimed. The alleged plot, called Operation Trojan Horse, is being investigation by Birmingham City Council, which has alerted the Department for Education. West Midlands Police have reopened a fraud investigation at one school named in the documents and Ofsted conducted a snap inspection at another last week. Schools named in the documents include Park View Academy in Alum Rock, Adderley Primary School and Saltley School, both in Saltley, and Regents Park Community Primary in Small Heath. Saltley has about 950 predominantly Muslim pupils aged 11-16. Problems are said to have surfaced last year when Mr Bains was asked by governors to make curriculum changes. "The governors demanded that he get rid of sex education and citizenship classes because they were deemed un-Islamic," a friend of Mr Bains claimed on Sunday. "He was also told that he should introduce Islamic studies into the curriculum, even though the school is a non-faith school, and he was told that only halal food should be served on the premises. Bains refused their demands and that's when things started to go wrong for him." Mr Bains went on "gardening leave" last November after a report by Ofsted that concluded that he had a "dysfunctional" relationship with the governors. On Sunday Ahson Mohammed, Saltley's interim head teacher, confirmed halal food had been introduced at the school canteen but said the decision was based on "the make-up of the students rather than a demand from the school". He said that both sex education and citizenship studies remained part of the curriculum. But he denied Islamic studies had been introduced, insisting students were taught about both Islam and Christianity. Birmingham City Council refused to comment on the Saltley claims but the investigation into the anonymous letter was continuing. |
A head teacher whose school So, the Muslim governors considered a Muslim pupil bringing a knife into school to be a benign occurrence, did they? That speaks volumes about the attitudes of the Muslim mainstream. What if it had been a Hindu pupil, or an English one?
The second article comes from the MailOnline on Sunday (hat-tip to UK Pride @UKPrideMedia):
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Muslim school headmistress reveals she was driven out of job by fanatics who 'saw her as the enemy, because she was too moderate'
A Muslim headmistress told last night how she was driven out of her job by extremists bent on taking over state schools. Her school is one of 12 apparently targeted by Islamic fundamentalists in a plot dating back two decades. In a letter seen by the Mail, a fanatic brags about enlisting four radical parents to help oust her in 1993. She said: 'I was the victim of a pernicious, well-orchestrated smear campaign I have never been able to recover from. 'People need to know this is a dangerous, well-organised and sinister group who have the capacity to destroy. They are producing fear in society and playing on paranoia. They are extremely powerful.' The 69-year-old believes she was seen as an enemy because she was too moderate a Muslim. She was confronted with a number of allegations, including one of financial mismanagement. Despite protesting her innocence her dismissal followed in 1994. She added: 'I was involved in a campaign so nasty that, since I lost the headship, I've never been able to raise my head above the parapet. 'I was shocked to read this letter after 20 years and I am genuinely scared by it.' Details of the extraordinary plot, which have been referred to the police, emerged on Friday after the letter was passed to Birmingham Council and a number of newspapers. The unnamed author admits making false claims against several teachers in Birmingham in order to oust them. The document discusses extending the 'jihad' operation to Bradford and Manchester – cities with fast growing Muslim populations. The letter identifies specific schools as targets and names heads it claims to have ousted through dirty tricks campaigns, forged resignation letters and false allegations of cheating and financial irregularities. It claims the former head of Birmingham's Regents Park Primary, Tina Ireland, was forced to resign after the group 'planted the seed' that she was encouraging pupils to cheat in exams. Another head, who is understood to have resigned following a plot to oust him, said he had been vindicated by exposure of the wider campaign, which the extremists called 'Trojan Horse'. Balwant Bains, former headmaster of Saltley School, said: 'I had to leave. I am trying to move away from a very horrible, horrible experience, and I am pleased that it has been exposed.' Another school – also named in the letter as a target – is alleged to have allowed extremist preachers into school assemblies. Governors at Park View Academy, whose pupils are almost all Muslim, apparently organised an 'extended Islamic assembly' for its Year 10 and 11 children with Sheikh Shady Al Suleiman, who has called on Allah to 'destroy the enemies of Islam' and to 'prepare us for the jihad'. The academy was rated outstanding by Ofsted in 2012 and has been praised by the Prime Minister. But according to former staff, the Trojan Horse operation is taking hold.
Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone strike in 2011, was a leading Al Qaeda recruiter. A former supply teacher at the school told the Mail she was forced to wear the head scarf at work against her will. Park View Academy, which is headed by Lindsey Clark, was given a snap Ofsted inspection this week after claims were raised of unfair treatment of non-Muslim staff. The chairman of governors, Tahir Alam, is referred to several times in the letter as being involved in the plot. But the senior activist in the Muslim Council of Britain and vice-chair of the Association of Muslim Schools said the letter was a 'malicious fabrication'. Birmingham City Council has launched an investigation which is being monitored by police and the Department for Education. The Mail understands Education Secretary Michael Gove met the leader of the council last month to discuss the documents. The letter says: 'We have caused a great amount of organised disruption in Birmingham and as a result we now have our own academies and are on our way to getting rid of more headteachers and taking over their schools. 'Whilst sometimes the practices we use may not seem the correct way to do things you must remember this is a jihad.' |
One said a senior teacher at the academy repeatedly endorsed the terrorist ideologue Anwar Al Awlaki at school assemblies.
Isn't it funny that, as aware of the pernicious nature of Islamic groups as the Mail is, they still treat the pronouncements of the Muslim Council of Britain, a group set up by a war criminal, as the voice of reason?
The final article comes from Andrew Gilligan from The Telegraph on Sunday (hat-tip to Ghaffar Hussain @GhaffarH):
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Extremists and the 'Trojan Horse' approach in state schools
A Telegraph investigation, in parallel with the 'Trojan Horse' extremism allegations, suggests that all is not well at Park View academy in Birmingham
They had already, they claimed, caused "a great amount of organised disruption" in the city and "as a result now have our own academies and are on the way to getting rid of more headteachers and taking over their schools. Whilst sometimes the practices we use may not seem the correct way to do things you must remember that this is 'jihad' and as such using all measures possible to win the war is acceptable." The leaked documents describe how the alleged plotters stir up "hardline" parents to attack headteachers with allegations that they are "corrupting their children with sex education, teaching about homosexuals, making their children pray Christian prayers and [carrying out] mixed swimming and sport". At the four Birmingham schools the letter named as examples of their "success," there has indeed been much "disruption" of late. At Adderley Primary, there is a police investigation amid claims that staff resignation letters were faked. At Saltley School, the respected non-Muslim headteacher resigned last year because of a breakdown in the relationship between him and the school's governors. At Regents Park Primary, the head left after an investigation into the school's outstanding test results. The letter's authors claim they "planted the seed of her cheating in order to get the results she has". But it is the fourth alleged takeover victim, Park View, whose story is most interesting. Park View, the only academy of the four, whose pupils are almost 100 per cent Muslim, is a flagship not just of Birmingham's but of Britain's state education system, a national poster child for the Government's academies policy. The schools watchdog, Ofsted, has hailed Park View as an "outstanding" example of educational success, achieving superb GCSE results in a very deprived area. In 2012, Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, described its executive headteacher, Lindsey Clark, as "inspirational". Mrs Clark was awarded the OBE for services to education. No less a man than the Prime Minister, David Cameron, praised Park View as an example of a school that was "closing the achievement gap". But an investigation by The Telegraph, in parallel with the "Trojan Horse" allegations, suggests that all is not well at Park View. According to former staff interviewed by this newspaper, a senior teacher at the academy repeatedly endorsed the terrorist ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki at school assemblies. Awlaki, killed by a US drone strike in 2011, was one of the most important al-Qaeda recruiters in the world, personally in contact with the perpetrators of at least three major terror attacks, including 9/11. Even in death, thanks to the internet, his sermons and DVDs have influenced dozens of other terrorists, including six convicted last year in Birmingham. The teacher, who remains in a high-level position at the school, also used its computer facilities and technical staff to copy Osama bin Laden DVDs, according to the former staff. The teacher used the word "terrorist" as a personal mobile phone identity on Bluetooth and also described non-Muslims to pupils in assemblies as "kuffar", an insulting term for infidel, the former teachers said. On November 28 last year, The Telegraph has learnt, Park View organised an "extended Islamic assembly" for its Year 10 and 11 pupils with Sheikh Shady al-Suleiman, an extremist preacher who has called on God to "destroy the enemies of Islam". Al-Suleiman has also asked God to "give victory to the Muslims in Afghanistan and Chechnya," to "give victory to all the Mujahideen all over the world" and to "prepare us for the jihad". Another teacher at the sister primary school controlled by Park View, Razwan Faraz, has defended his brother, Ahmed, a man dubbed the "terrorists' favourite bookseller" whose Birmingham shop, now closed by police, distributed extremist literature to many involved in terror plots, including one of the 7/7 bombers. In 2011 Ahmed Faraz was jailed for multiple terror-related offences, though he was later cleared of some of the charges on appeal. Razwan said the convictions were an attack on free speech. Before moving to Park View's primary school, he worked at Adderley Primary. In November, Park View was given a top award at the Global Peace and Unity conference, a London-based Islamic event boycotted by Conservative ministers because of its repeated hosting of Holocaust deniers, extremists and terrorist sympathisers. At previous GPU events, material glorifying terrorist groups was on open sale. Last month, Park View was placed under investigation amid allegations that it discriminated against non-Muslim staff and that it organises Islamic studies classes, despite supposedly being a secular, non-faith state school. Last week Ofsted launched a snap inspection of the academy. The Counter-Terrorist Unit of the West Midlands Police is also understood to have been alerted to activity at the school. Mrs Clark admitted that Park View had established an "all-female madrasah" giving children Islamic studies classes, though she said it took place after school hours and was done for pupil safeguarding reasons. Promotional material for the al-Suleiman talk on the school's website suggests that "Islamic assemblies" are regular features for pupils at Park View. She denied that any complaint had been received about the alleged Osama bin Laden incident, but refused to comment further. The senior teacher did not respond to repeated texts, emails and telephone messages asking for comment. The chairman of governors at Park View, Tahir Alam, is a senior activist in the Muslim Council of Britain and vice-chair of the Association of Muslim Schools (AMS). His views, like the MCB's, are hardline. In evidence for the MCB to the UN's high commissioner for human rights in 2008, he said he would "caution against advocating that desegregation [in schools] should be actively pursued" and stressed the "obligatory nature" of the hijab for Muslim women and girls. Mr Alam is also a senior official of another organisation, the al-Hijrah Trust, which runs another successful state school in the city and trains teachers, many of whom have gone on to head other state schools in Birmingham. Mr Alam is closely involved with national organisations for Muslim school governors and parents. On Saturday night he denied any involvement in the alleged "Trojan Horse" plot, saying the leaked letter was a "malicious fabrication and completely untrue". Mr Alam and the AMS say that Islamic extremism is not a problem in British schools. However, the AMS co-controls the controversial Bridge Schools Inspectorate, which has taken over responsibility from Ofsted for inspecting many private Muslim schools and has been accused of whitewashing extremist schools. The centre-right think tank, Policy Exchange, has called on the Government to abolish the Bridge Schools Inspectorate. Critics say the Government's academies and free schools programmes, which give schools far greater freedom from local authority control and national guidelines, creates exactly the kind of vulnerabilities alleged to have been exploited at Park View. The purported "Trojan Horse" papers state explicitly that the extremists intend to use the freedoms allowed academies to Islamicise state schools. Park View's future plans, according to its latest annual report, are to take over or establish another "eight or nine" academy schools. Birmingham Council and education watchdogs continue to investigate the "Trojan Horse" plot. |
The leaked document, purportedly a letter from one Muslim extremist to another, called it "Trojan Horse" – an operation by fundamentalists to "take over" state schools in the city of Birmingham, undermine the headteachers and ensure they were "run on Islamic principles".
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