Michael Gove's toxic assault on schools is based on naked discrimination

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Thought I'd stir up the hornet's nest and put the other side of the coin.





Michael Gove's toxic assault on schools is based on naked discrimination
By branding religious conservatism 'extremism' in Birmingham, ministers are making it clear that different rules apply to Muslims

The harassment of minorities on the basis of forged documents has a grim history. So the official onslaught on mainly Muslim state schools in Birmingham, triggered by what has all the hallmarks of a fabricated letter outlining a supposed Islamist plot to take them over, should be cause for deep alarm.

Instead, the architect of the clampdown, education secretary Michael Gove, has been hailed by the bulk of the press for standing up to "extremism". Inspectors have now turned their attention to an alleged Islamic takeover of schools in Bradford, and a local MP has demanded action to halt the "Islamist infiltration" of east London politics.

All this is music to the ears of the neoconservative Gove, who regards political Islam as a totalitarian "enemy within" and has gone to war with the home secretary, Theresa May, over who can claim to be toughest on Muslim "extremism". Four separate inquiries, including by the former head of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, have been set in train.

Now the schools inspector Ofsted, transparently under political direction, has done what was expected of it. Five schools have been put in special measures, four lined up for takeover and 11 others taken to task – mostly for not teaching children enough about the threat of extremism.

But this extremism turns out to be a different beast from the one first trailed in lurid accusations a few months back. It is nothing to do with terrorism, or even the elastic boo-word of Islamism. The target is religious conservatism – or even just plain religiousness.

But for Gove – and now David Cameron – "nonviolent extremism" must be targeted as much as its violent counterpart. For those unclear what extremism might mean exactly, the government last year defined it as "opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect".

That clearly wouldn't apply to those involved with the targeted Birmingham schools – who, like most British Muslims, are more likely to identify with Britain than the rest of the population. But some are religious conservatives who Gove equates with "extremists" – convinced there is a "conveyor belt" from Muslim piety to terror.

So the inspectors had no problem finding the evidence required and what they claimed was a "culture of fear and intimidation", even if the evidence was thin on the ground. Teachers and parents say the fear and intimidation was rather spread by inspectors, who turned their findings on their head in 10 days.

They came up with a string of allegations, most based on hearsay, contested or exaggerated out of recognition according to teachers and parents. Christmas had been cancelled, it was said, music banned, an extremist preacher had addressed pupils, girls and boys were segregated, western women had been described as "white prostitutes".

The only prostitute mentioned turned out to be in a homily of the Prophet Muhammad's about a woman who saved a thirsty dog, Christmas events abounded in the censured schools, music was taught and gender segregation took place in PE, as in many other schools – while single sex schools are common across the country.

But the absurdity of the inspectors' findings is clearest in the case of Gracelands nursery school, whose staff were taken to task for failing to ensure its 2- to 4-year-olds were protected against "extreme and radical behaviour".

That's not to say, of course, that there's nothing behind the allegations, which have clearly been fed by former and current staff – or that there aren't legitimate grievances. These are not faith schools and some have clearly pushed the schools' religious boundaries.

It's just that they have nothing to do with extremism or terrorism, and could have easily been dealt with in a routine system of accountability. Instead, schools which had delivered outstanding results for deprived communities are now smeared and destabilised – and their pupils with them.

There's a powerful case for secular education. But it doesn't exist in Britain's schools, which are awash with religion. And unless the same rules apply to all, the result is naked discrimination. But has Gove sent inspectors to root out anti-abortionism and homophobia in Catholic or evangelical-sponsored schools, or cultural isolation in mainly white schools where racism is rife?

Not at all. Nor has he investigated the influence in schools of far-right extremists. Instead, he's effectively ordered two Birmingham schools serving overwhelmingly Muslim populations, Oldknow and Golden Hillock, to hold a "daily, broadly Christian act of worship" (excused in other such schools).

Of course, Gove's drive to break up and part-privatise the English school system has cut away the local accountability which could have checked some of the problems in Birmingham, which are now being used to line them up for a real takeover by his pet academy chains.

But the campaign to bring to heel Birmingham's schools and humiliate the Muslim community in the process is a wider threat in a country where war-fuelled Islamophobia is already rampant. Dog-whistling to Ukip bigotry might seem a cute electoral trick.

However, it risks driving Muslims from participation in public life, pushing Muslim pupils out of the state sector and boosting the extremism the government claims to be battling. Gove's assault on Muslim schools in Birmingham isn't about British values: it's a poisonous campaign of discrimination and intimidation.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/11/michael-gove-assault-on-schools-naked-discrimination

apparently there is no evidence any of this is happening

according to didge the defender its all in our racist little minds, a plot to demonize Muslims and "use fear arguments"

can anyone tell me why the names of the head of govs and principal of park view are not available..................  maybe they are not as English as the vice of both.

Neither have yet as far as know made any representation to the media leaving it all their juniors.