Muslim parents’ fury after teacher shows class Hebdo cartoons
Staff member suspended over ‘blasphemy’ debate
A TEACHER has been suspended amid furious protests by Muslim parents after pupils were shown controversial cartoon images of the Prophet Muhammad during a class discussion about ‘blasphemy’.
More than 100 adults and pupils demonstrated outside Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire yesterday in a move ministers condemned as ‘completely unacceptable’.
The teacher reportedly showed the ‘blasphemous’ caricatures published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo as part of an ethical debate.
Citing their ‘British values’, the staff member reportedly told Year 9 pupils they had the right to show the images because of a belief in ‘freedom of expression’. In 2015 two Muslim brothers forced their way into the magazine’s office in Paris and killed 12 people.
And last October teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded near his school in France by a teenage Islamist after showing the cartoons to youngsters.
The Batley Grammar teacher is said to have asked the class whether the cartoonists or attackers were to blame and appeared to predict the controversial reaction by accepting that some of the pupils will ‘tell your parents about this’.
Protesters yesterday demanded to speak to headteacher Gary Kibble. Police closed the road and children at the school, which has 980 pupils aged four to 16, were told to come in late. In a statement Mr Kibble said: ‘The school unequivocally apologises for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent religious studies lesson.
‘The member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies. It is important for children to learn about faith and beliefs, but this must be done in a sensitive way. The member of staff has been suspended pending an independent formal investigation.’ But a local imam who discussed the incident with Mr Kibble said the teacher should be sacked. Mohammed Pandor told a crowd of pupils and parents: ‘ Ideally this teacher’s teaching days are over.’
Father- of-three Sajjad Hussain, 50, said: ‘This teacher doesn’t have the freedom to insult and ridicule. We need to stop these kind of extremist incidents. This teacher is clearly Islamophobic.’ Parents also made unsubstantiated claims that the teacher previously told Muslim students in class ‘your boys are shooting my boys’ legs off in Iraq’ and allegedly referred to circumcision as ‘barbaric’.
A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘The nature of protest we have seen, including issuing threats and in violation of coronavirus restrictions, are completely unacceptable and must be brought to an end.
‘Schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas and materials in their curriculum, including where they are challenging or controversial, subject to their obligations to ensure political balance.’ A Free Speech Union spokesman said it stood ‘in solidarity’ with the teacher, adding: ‘For the headteacher to give in immediately to the demands of an outrage mob sets a very bad example.’
‘Freedom of expression’