Proceedings against five senior school leaders caught up in the Trojan Hoax scandal in Birmingham have been thrown out after a tribunal ruled that there had been a “serious abuse of process” and “abuse of justice” by government lawyers.
The so-called “Trojan Horse” scandal which did much damage to thriving schools in Muslim-populated areas before being gradually and consistently exposed as a hoax continues to unravel with the latest set of disciplinary proceedings being thrown out of a tribunal on Tuesday.
A panel found that the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), an agency of the Department for Education (DfE) withheld “crucial witness statements” taken as part of a review carried out by Peter Clarke (former police counter-terrorism chief) ordered by the then infamous neoconservative Education secretary Micheal Gove, into allegations of a plot to ‘radicalise’ pupils in Birmingham schools. It described the omission as a “major failure”.
Also read: Gove’s Trojan Horse Hoax finally exposed by Education Select Committee
The teacher disciplinary panel said that this amounted to an abuse of justice and the teachers have been cleared to resume teaching. The panel said,
“Such failures arise out of decisions which were consciously made, and affect core evidence on which the NCTL has relied. The panel now knows, belatedly and only by chance, that these serious failures have beset these proceedings from the very outset.”
An NCTL spokesperson said: “The NCTL will carefully consider this latest panel hearing before deciding the next steps in this process. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”
The five teachers cleared were Arshad Hussain, Hardeen Saini, Lindsey Clark, Monzoor Hussain and Razwan Faraz, after a harrowing ordeal that has cost them both financially, emotionally and professionally. It has been reported that proceedings had to be halted at one point due to one of the teachers breaking down in tears. The barrister representing Monzoor Hussain said:
“For three years Mr Hussain has been unable to carry out his profession, with all the financial pressures that has caused to his family. He welcomes that this unnecessary prosecution has finally ended. He would like to thank everyone who stood by him.”[1]
A spokesperson for Linsey Clark, the former executive headteacher at the Park View Educational Trust, who had given 40 years of her life to her profession and “improving the life chances of youngsters”, said:
“[She is] relieved that this debacle is over [and is] utterly spent – both emotionally and psychologically.
“Although Ms Clark is pleased that the proceedings are not continuing, today’s victory is a hollow one. She had very much fought for, and sought to obtain, a verdict clearing her of any wrong doing – this, now, is no longer possible.
“The fact that the proceedings are now discontinued will not relieve the pain or remove the stain on an otherwise unsullied, indeed exceptional career.”[2]
The panel’s decision against the government mirrors the overturning of lifetime bans on two Muslim teachers in October last year, Inamulhaq Anwar and Akeel Ahmed,[3] and calls into doubt ongoing hearings against three other Muslim teachers caught up in the Trojan Hoax scandal, Saqib Malik, Shakeel Akhtar and Muhammad Umar Khan.
Tahir Alam, the former chair of the Park View Education Trust, who is also currently fighting the DfE through the courts over his ban,[4] said:
“I hope justice will be done. As I’ve said before, this has been a witch-hunt and an abuse of authority.”
Over two years ago a cross-party Education Select Committee investigation into the “Trojan Horse” scandal stated that there was no evidence of a plot to “radicalise” pupils,[5] but the impact that the scandal has left on many lives and a generation of children in deprived areas has clearly taken years to even begin to overcome.
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[1] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/30/trojan-horse-tribunal-five-birmingham-teachers-islam
[2] http://schoolsweek.co.uk/trojan-horse-nctl-drops-disciplinary-case-against-5-teachers/
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/oct/13/high-court-overturns-lifetime-bans-trojan-horse-teachers-park-view-islam
[4] https://www.islam21c.com/latest/your-chance-to-help-trojan-hoax-victim-fight-back/
[5] https://www.islam21c.com/politics/goves-trojan-horse-hoax-finally-exposed-by-education-select-committee/
1 Comment
British society must learn to respect and tolerate those who are different. God has created diverse human beings to live in this tiny global village of one family. Creation by its very nature is diverse with different species, different communities, different cultures and languages. These differences represent the beauty and wonder but diversity is sometimes not fully appreciated, resulting in all sorts of clashes. The British society and Establishment must learn to respect and accommodate others, as if in a family. A report by the Institute for Community Cohesion found that native parents were deserting some schools after finding their children outnumbered by pupils from ethnic minorities. Schools in parts of England are becoming increasingly segregated. The study focused on 13 local authorities. Many of the schools and colleges are segregated and this was generally worsening over recent years. This is RACISM because British society is the home of institutional racism. A study by Bristol University reveals that a high level of racial segregation in Oldham schools and tension between communities resulted in recent riots in 2001. The solution is that those schools where Muslim children are majority may be designated as Muslim community schools. The native parents do not want their children to be educated along with migrant children. As soon as they find that the number of other children is on the increase, they remove their children to those schools where native children are in majority.
This Islamophobic (Micky Ofsted Wilshaw) has been systematically targeting Muslim schools: either down grading them or failing them over minor shortcomings. The w…itch-hunt which started with Trojan hoax continues unabated. Many Muslim schools have been served closure notices unjustifiably by trigger happy inspectors who view Muslim schools and children through the prism of extremism and terrorism. The aim is to try to save them from Islam. What has happened to this school in Birmingham is a tip of the iceberg of intimidation and bullying affecting many other schools.
Trojan Horse is an attempt to put Muslims back in their place, at the bottom of the Job market heap,
Thanks to the hard and brilliant efforts of the Muslim Governors, the school grades amongst the Asian Muslims shot up from a RESTARTED 20% to a respectable 80%.
What gives OFSTED the right, or indeed any Brits, to preach to minority groups about how they should live their lives. This is a cosmopolitan country, the Muslim community have the right to educate their children how they choose. What has being British got to do with your religious belief? In Britain there are Hindus Sikhs pagans Jewish Buddhists atheist Zoroastrians Rasta’s and many more should they all change there religious beliefs because they are British? Studying the Qur’an will certainly help towards these children becoming fully integrated citizens of the UK.
The problem is the Islamification of schools through the sheer weight of numbers of Muslims in them. Attitudes to gays and terrorism may be some kind of litmus test for such Islamification but Ofsted seem to have approached this in a clumsy and insensitive way. The elephant in the room is that if you have a school full of Muslims then it is always going to be an Islamist school. It’s too late to avoid that now. Islam outlaws homosexuality. It’s perfectly reasonable to ensure children forced into a religion and a religious school by their parents are educated and accepting, and generally set up to become good citizens. It’s also reasonable to suspect a Muslim school, wouldn’t encourage acceptance of homosexuality, or discourage playground negativity towards it.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk/..