UK govt orders takeover of Islamic school where boy died due to allergy

UK government has ordered the takeover of one of the country’s first state-funded Islamic secondary schools after its policies, including the segregation of boys and girls in classrooms, were found “inadequate” and not “sufficiently” safe for students.

Al-Hijrah School in Birmingham had offensive books in its library which said a husband can beat his wife. The school also has a rule to segregate girls and boys.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of the UK’s schools regulator Ofsted, said Al-Hijrah would be taken over by an independent academy trust on the orders of the Department for Education (DfE).

The department confirmed that the school’s management would be handed to an outside trust, The Sunday Times reported.

Birmingham City Council said both it and Al-Hijrah’s interim executive board were “co-operating fully” with the DfE to find a suitable academy sponsor.

The move follows a report by Ofsted inspectors who visited the school, which has about 750 pupils, after nine- year-old Mohammad Imaeel Ashraf who died after collapsing there in March. His funeral was attended by more than 2,000 people.

An inquest into the death, initially reportedly linked to an allergic reaction to fish and chips, will be held later this summer.

In a report last month the inspectors gave the school an “inadequate” judgment, the lowest ranking. They found bullying, a chaotic playground, weak teaching, pupils who were not “sufficiently” safe and staff who did not know what to do in medical emergencies.