c-rex
02-07-2007, 04:14 PM
A former teacher at an Islamic school in the UK claims that the school is claiming that the school promotes intolerance. He was fired after blowing the whistle on students teaching, or so he claims. Since then he has provided news sources with school textbooks, donated by the Saudi government, comparing Jews and Christians to monkeys and pigs and stating all non Muslims will burn in hellfire. There is an excellent clip on YouTube about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY-vXw7XKzg. Starting at about the 4:12 mark they get the head of the school and the head of some Jewish organization on to debate. The head of the school pretty much gets destroyed in the interview.
One reason they might interest the British OP9ers is that government funds went to this school. If you are interested there is a petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ to stop funding religious schools with public money. Should you be interested in such a thing.
Finally I watched the interview and dusted off my Arabic knowledge and the passages do translate at the media claims they do. When the head of the school in the interview claims you can read different meanings from the text she is full of shit. The sentences are fairly basic designed for younger students, not complex sentences with clauses and the like you can twist around. But I don't the story she refers to, so I cannot comment about her claims that the passages are taken out of context. But you'd think the school book would have included a synposis or something in the book to provide context so the pig and monkey comments would not be taken literally.
There is also a text news article at: http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2006576,00.html
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Tuesday February 6, 2007
The Guardian
A Saudi-run school in London uses textbooks which describe Jews as monkeys and Christians as pigs, according to papers filed with an employment tribunal by a former teacher.
Teaching materials used at the King Fahd school in Acton, west London, translated from Arabic for an unfair dismissal claim against the school, say Jews "engage in witchcraft and sorcery and obey Satan", and invite pupils to "name some repugnant characteristics of Jews" and to give examples of worthless religions, such as Judaism and Christianity.
Colin Cook, 57, a British convert to Islam who taught English at the school for 19 years until he was dismissed last December, said pupils had been heard saying they wanted to kill Americans, that 9/11 was good, and that Osama bin Laden was a hero. He is claiming £100,000 compensation for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and victimisation.
The school was originally set up to educate the children of Arab diplomats, but most of its 750 pupils are now British Muslims. It teaches Wahhabism, the dominant faith in Saudi Arabia, which is an extreme form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Qur'an.
Mr Cook's solicitor, Lawrence Davies, said he was taking the "extraordinary step" of issuing a statement because British pupils were being put at risk. "We are concerned at the fact that these racist textbooks are being taught in a Saudi-funded school to British pupils and to date no school inspection by Ofsted has identified this appalling practice."
The teacher, who earned £35,000 a year, says he blew the whistle to Edexcel, the examinations body, after children were allowed to refer to their annotated texts in an English language exam in breach of the rules. The school denies his allegations and claims he was rightly dismissed for misconduct. His tribunal hearing is expected to be held later this year.
One reason they might interest the British OP9ers is that government funds went to this school. If you are interested there is a petition at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ to stop funding religious schools with public money. Should you be interested in such a thing.
Finally I watched the interview and dusted off my Arabic knowledge and the passages do translate at the media claims they do. When the head of the school in the interview claims you can read different meanings from the text she is full of shit. The sentences are fairly basic designed for younger students, not complex sentences with clauses and the like you can twist around. But I don't the story she refers to, so I cannot comment about her claims that the passages are taken out of context. But you'd think the school book would have included a synposis or something in the book to provide context so the pig and monkey comments would not be taken literally.
There is also a text news article at: http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2006576,00.html
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Tuesday February 6, 2007
The Guardian
A Saudi-run school in London uses textbooks which describe Jews as monkeys and Christians as pigs, according to papers filed with an employment tribunal by a former teacher.
Teaching materials used at the King Fahd school in Acton, west London, translated from Arabic for an unfair dismissal claim against the school, say Jews "engage in witchcraft and sorcery and obey Satan", and invite pupils to "name some repugnant characteristics of Jews" and to give examples of worthless religions, such as Judaism and Christianity.
Colin Cook, 57, a British convert to Islam who taught English at the school for 19 years until he was dismissed last December, said pupils had been heard saying they wanted to kill Americans, that 9/11 was good, and that Osama bin Laden was a hero. He is claiming £100,000 compensation for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and victimisation.
The school was originally set up to educate the children of Arab diplomats, but most of its 750 pupils are now British Muslims. It teaches Wahhabism, the dominant faith in Saudi Arabia, which is an extreme form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Qur'an.
Mr Cook's solicitor, Lawrence Davies, said he was taking the "extraordinary step" of issuing a statement because British pupils were being put at risk. "We are concerned at the fact that these racist textbooks are being taught in a Saudi-funded school to British pupils and to date no school inspection by Ofsted has identified this appalling practice."
The teacher, who earned £35,000 a year, says he blew the whistle to Edexcel, the examinations body, after children were allowed to refer to their annotated texts in an English language exam in breach of the rules. The school denies his allegations and claims he was rightly dismissed for misconduct. His tribunal hearing is expected to be held later this year.