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Muslim Takeover Investigation Expands to 25 Schools

23 April 2014

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Park View School — Park View Academy spent money on loudspeakers used to call students to Islamic prayers.

The initial investigation of an alleged “Islamic takeover plot” of a Birmingham school has widened to include 25 different schools.

When we first reported on this in our earlier article ‘Muslim schools take-over plot revealed‘, we had no idea how far this plot extended. Since news first broke, the Birmingham City Council has received over 200 reports concerning this inquiry.

The reports involve both primary and secondary academies and consist of calls and emails from staff, parents, and governors.

The allegations made by school teachers include the bullying of non-Muslim staff members, separating boys and girls during classes and assemblies, and banning sex education.

This concern was first raised last November when an anonymous letter known as “Operation Trojan Horse” emerged, outlining the hard-line Muslim plot attempting to take over UK city schools, four of which were apparently infiltrated. This letter encourages parents to rebel against school leaders if the schools are “corrupting their children with sex education, teaching about homosexuals, making their children pray Christian prayers and [carrying out] mixed swimming and sport.”

The instructions in the letter advocate more emphasis on Islamic studies as well as gender segregation in classrooms. The letter additionally says that the goal is to “ensure these schools are run on Islamic principles.”

A key part of the investigation is to determine whether or not the plot is genuine. Sir Albert Bore, the leader of Birmingham City Council, does not believe it is. But he does think that “there are issues…to look at carefully—issues perhaps around how a governing body behaves, perhaps what is said and done around the school.” His concern was that community relations could be in danger of falling apart.

One school governor also thinks the letter and surrounding allegations are a hoax. In addition, Tahir Alam from Park View Education Trust called the investigation a “witch hunt” that was based on “all sorts of false allegations.”

Birmingham city council’s chief executive, Mark Rogers, attributed these allegations not to a Muslim plot but to “cultural traditions” in immigrant communities that are at odds with England’s national school curriculum.

In response to these reports, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, instructed Ofsted inspectors to fail any schools in which religion is “getting in the way of learning and a balanced curriculum.” These investigations come partly because of accusations that Mr. Gove has shown a “shocking degree” of complacency with school policies.

Next month the results from the investigation will be published, and they are predicted to show that students are being proselytized with conservative Islamic ideas . If this is true, governors and head teachers who are found “inadequate” on these grounds could be dismissed immediately.

Last week Michael White, a former UK school teacher, revealed that some teachers were aware of the plot over 20 years ago but dismissed him instead of doing anything about it. White said that the Local Education Authority (LEA) listened to his claim but “didn’t want to exchange one set of problems for another.”

Khalid Mahmood, a Birmingham MP, said that for at least eight years the council knew about these claims but did not act for fear of “appearing anti-Muslim.” The height of the scandal is at Birmingham’s Park View Academy, where it is claimed that £70,000 was used to purchase loudspeakers to call pupils to Islamic prayers.

Despite the mounting evidence, authorities continue to downplay the seriousness of this case because of its so-called sensitive nature. As one reporter noted, nobody involved “wants to be called an ‘Islamaphobe’ or a racist, nor do they wish to be labelled a right wing conspiracy theorist.”

Even more unfortunate is that some potential whistle-blowers are afraid of losing their jobs if they come forward with what they know. If people fear that speaking out against Muslim infiltration of their school policies could cost them their careers, how can we hope for any change to take place? Moreover, as British leaders are anxious to show themselves to be multicultural, it is unlikely that Ofsted will be able to actually fail schools in which the religion of Islam is entrenched.