Should Schools Do More To Tackle Islamophobia?
A recent survey has shown that more than 45% of Muslim children experienced some form of Islamophobia in school before the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January.
The figures released by the Islamic Human Rights Commission show that nearly half of Muslim school pupils in the UK experienced some form of religious discrimination from classmates and teachers alike. With one in 12 UK pupils classed as Muslim, what do schools have in place to protect minority students?
What Is In Place?
Many schools have zero tolerance policies in place to tackle negative attitudes towards issues including gender, sexuality, race and religion. All children are encouraged to report any problems they encounter. However, whether they feel comfortable enough to do this is another issue.
Outside of the classroom there are a number of resources offered by unions such as The National Union of Teachers (NUT) how to confront islamophobia guide. There are also a number of websites available dedicated to tackling the issue of islamophobia in schools including 14 ways to fight islamophobia.
Terrorists, Immigrants, Paedophiles
Teacher’s union groups and anti-racism organisations believe that anti-Muslim sentiment in schools is rising. Tell MAMA, anti-Muslim hate crime monitors in the UK said that since the Charlie Hebdo killings they had logged over 100 incidents.
NASUWT said that such incidents are contributing to the rise in islamophobia and is causing “uncertainty and fear” within the school environment, leading to increased chances of a Muslim student being labelled a “terrorist”, “immigrant” or “paedophile”.
“Lack of action is short sighted since we are seeing problems in some schools regarding bullying and prejudiced statements against Muslim students.”
The organisation called the Department for Education “short-sighted” after repeatedly being rebuffed in efforts to offer school’s training on how to tackle islamophobia.
Speaking to the Independent, Fiyaz Mughal, chief executive of Tell MAMA, said “We are seeing more incidents of racialised language and bullying against Muslim children in schools and it has led to a significant number of incidents following the events in Paris.
“For the past 18 months we have sought to engage with the DfE to offer training to schools but on each occasion we have been rebuffed. The lack of engagement is worrying.”
Do you think that schools can do more to tackle the issue of islamophobia? Has your child faced this issue in their school? How was it dealt with? Share your experiences with us on social media!