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UK: Senior education official comes to aid of bullied headteacher over hijab ban

Feb 1, 2018 5:10 am By Christine Douglass-Williams

Jihad Watch reported this week about Neena Lall, a Newham, UK headteacher, who was called “Hitler,” and severely bullied into reversing a hijab school ban; meanwhile, the chairman of governors of her school, Arif Qawi, ended up quitting his job. The prestigious St Stephen’s Primary in Newham received numerous complaints from the community. Newham has a 41% Muslim population.

Qawi rightly accused the government of “leaving staff exposed to bullying from ‘extremists’ over the hijab ban.” But now comes good news: the Office for Standards in Education’s (Ofsted) chief inspector Amanda Spielman has “made an unusual intervention” in the dispute. Spielman “warned of the danger posed by people who use religion to ‘actively pervert’  education.” Islamic supremacists use religion routinely to “actively pervert” all sectors of democratic society.

As indicated in the report below, Spielman will also publicly support Lall in a speech to the Church of England:

“School leaders must have the right to set school uniform policies in a way that they see fit, in order to promote cohesion,” Spielman will tell the audience of Anglican clerics and educators.

Islamic supremacism is not about tolerance and cohesion. It is about subjugating infidel countries by first bringing division and chaos by means of demands of special privileges over people of every other creed. This agenda advances under the guise of victimhood, which includes the abuse of the word “Islamophobia.”

The former Muslim Mayor of Blackburn, Salim Mulla, was accused of being part of a hate campaign that targeted Miss Lall, and of calling her an “evil racist.”

“Senior Ofsted official backs headteacher over hijab ban for under eights,” by Richard Adams, Guardian, February 1, 2018:

Ofsted’s chief inspector has warned of the danger posed by people who use religion to “actively pervert” education as she made an unusual intervention in a dispute between parents and the headteacher of a primary school over banning the youngest Muslim girls from wearing the hijab.

In a speech to a Church of England schools conference on Thursday, Amanda Spielman is to publicly support the head, Neena Lall, who imposed the ban last month in the face of opposition from parents and community leaders at the predominantly Muslim state school in east London.

Ofsted staff conducted a surprise inspection of St Stephen’s primary school in Newham on Wednesday morning, two weeks after the school’s governors overturned Lall’s decision to ban the hijab worn by pupils under the age of eight.

“School leaders must have the right to set school uniform policies in a way that they see fit, in order to promote cohesion,” Spielman will tell the audience of Anglican clerics and educators.

“It is a matter of deep regret that this outstanding school has been subject to a campaign of abuse by some elements within the community. I want to be absolutely clear, Ofsted will always back heads who take tough decisions in the interests of their pupils.”

In her speech Spielman will also call on school leaders to use “muscular liberalism” to defend decisions they make, rather than fear causing offence.

“Ofsted inspectors are increasingly brought into contact with those who want to actively pervert the purpose of education,” Spielmann will say, according to remarks reported by the Times.

“Under the pretext of religious belief, they use education institutions, legal and illegal, to narrow young people’s horizons, to isolate and segregate, and in the worst cases to indoctrinate impressionable minds with extremist ideology.”

In response, a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain said: “As Ms Spielman continues to issue a disproportionate number of public statements about Muslims and apparent links to extremism, we hope she will consult before issuing further unjustifiable policies.

“A lack of appropriate engagement will undoubtedly strengthen the negative perception among many Muslim parents about Ofsted’s interventions.”

Lall’s decision to ban the hijab – on the grounds that Islamic teaching did not require girls to wear it until reaching puberty – provoked criticism from local councillors and parents who complained it had been done without consultation.

The school announced that the ban had been overturned a week later, following the resignation of the chair of governors who had supported Lall’s move but later apologised for comments he had made on social media.

Spielman’s tough line on uniform policies follows a meeting between Ofsted and representatives from faith schools in January, which discussed a new policy aimed at penalising schools found to have bowed to pressure over uniforms.

According to the draft discussed at the meeting, schools that failed to consult adequately or allowed themselves to be swayed by a vocal minority of parents would be downgraded by Ofsted by having their leadership and management graded as inadequate.

In her speech Spielman will tell schools they have a responsibility to “tackle those who actively undermine fundamental British values or equalities law”.

School leaders may need to make “uncomfortable decisions” in the interests of their pupils, and not assume that the most conservative sections of a particular faith represent all its members.

“In that regard schools must not, in their entirely correct goal of promoting tolerance, shy away from challenging fundamentalist practice where it appears in their schools or communities,” Spielman will say.

“Similarly schools must not allow pressure from certain elements of school communities to dictate school policy, nor should we allow vocal parental minorities to pressure other parents and children to act or dress against their wishes. Giving way to the loudest voices is the opposite of tolerance.”

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Filed Under: anti-dhimmitude, United Kingdom, women's rights in Islam Tagged With: Amanda Spielman, Church of England, hijab ban, Neena Lall, Newham, Office for Standards in Education


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Comments

  1. Jayell says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 6:04 am

    So Newham is actually 41% muslim now, is it? Can’t say I’m surprised, bit it’s strange, because when I grew up there it was a highly civilised, law-abiding, British place with an fine education department including a boys’ Grammar School which had something of a national reputation. Now look at the place! (On second thoughts, if you’re from the west side of the pond intending a trip to good old London Town, just don’t bother yourself with this bit – I never do these days). I can guarantee that there would never, ever have been a disgusting debacle of this sort in the place in my day, least of all in a Church of England school! Well done, Ms. Douglass-Williams, for pointing out this absolutely atrocious state of affairs, but it’s not nice seeing one’s childhood heritage going into the rubbish bin.

    • gravenimage says

      Feb 2, 2018 at 12:56 am

      Very grim, Jayell.

    • BC says

      Feb 2, 2018 at 8:24 am

      When I taught at a girls’ school in TH in the late sixties there were a lot of immigrants girls mainly from Caribbean and Pakistan as I remember. I am sure many of the latter were Muslims but there were no hijabs whatsoever. In fact I never saw hijabs at all anywhere!

    • David Busnick says

      Feb 5, 2018 at 10:41 pm

      Don’t worry Theresa Mayhem will step in and sort it out, she will demand that all C of E schools allow Mussies to wear what ever they like and ban the Christians from wearing crosses.

  2. Wazza says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 6:33 am

    Won’t be long and it will be 100% Muslim, they will drive the Brits out, sadly though, as the Brits move to other ares it won’t be long and there will be no safe zones for any Brit
    I take my hat off to this teacher, she would have knows what would happen in a Muzzie area and stuck to her guns, kudos lady and also to the Head for supporting her. Wonder how the real English people and not invaders are truly coping, we only hear how bad some areas are, I wonder just how far reaching this infestation goes
    Watched “Doomsday” last night, based on a virus In England, like the Muzzie virus turning people into zombies, and how some escaped into the Hills to survive, and revived the old ways like knights etc, only the strong will survive was their motto

    • Jayell says

      Feb 1, 2018 at 4:14 pm

      “Won’t be long and it will be 100% Muslim, they will drive the Brits out….”

      They don’t quite do that at present, but they keep their eyes open for elderly English house owners who are about to move out, are seriously ill/dying/have died, and come knocking on the door offering cash for the house. This happened to me twice, once when I had to dispose of an elderly aunt’s house and secondly when I had to sell my parents’ house, both in Newham. In the case of my aunt, they had obviously seen the ambulance turn up to take her away and were on the doorstep and ringing the doorbell before she’d even had a chance to pass away! Quite where they get the ready cash from (hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling) I don’t know, and one character even offered to take the place off my hands without bothering a solicitor! I shudder to think how many properties in Newham are still in English hands.

      • Save Europe says

        Feb 1, 2018 at 8:34 pm

        SO SO true!!!! I have a Nepalese – ex Gurkha – friend whose mother died in Birmingham. Within hours, there was a knock on the door, and a request to buy the place. He was told – please….only sell to a Muslim only. He declined.

        • LeftisruiningCanada says

          Feb 1, 2018 at 9:47 pm

          I hate the way they do that. Exactly the same behavior mentioned in “Islamic Republic of Dewsbury”. It happens everywhere, and they like to pay with cash that they either made from dealing drugs, selling sex with white girls, or some tax evasion scam they’re running through a kebab shop. gah.

        • Jayell says

          Feb 2, 2018 at 12:32 am

          It’s like handing the place over to a load of mafia gangsters. No wonder Newham’s now a crime-ridden mess. And Birmingham. And Dewsbury. And the rest! By the way, I like the way (not!) that this ‘Muslim Council of Britain’ seems to think that it has some statutory right to ‘be consulted’ on any kind of policy in the running of State schools. These people are just an unelected, self-serving private interest group with absolutely no democratic or constututional credibility whatsoever. They have to be reminded of that and simply told to do as they’re bl**dy well told and if they don’t like that, sling their hooks, the further the better.

        • gravenimage says

          Feb 2, 2018 at 1:00 am

          Very disturbing.

        • LeftisruiningCanada says

          Feb 2, 2018 at 1:02 pm

          Yes Jayell, it’s just like that. These ugly power hungry ‘community spokesmen’ gangsters sit in their mosquebarracks like fat little spiders, greedily waiting for the next pluck on one of their web strings, announcing another chance to feed on one more portion of kaffir sovereignty.

          They set out to make themselves our master and we let them, handing over decisions and veto power to everything that makes our countries ours.

          They laugh, and drum their greasy fingers together, imagining the possssibilities.

  3. StellaSaidSo says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 6:35 am

    Bravo Ms Spielman!

    More such ‘unusual interventions’ on the part of Ofsted will be needed if the British education system is to remain British.

  4. MFritz says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 7:23 am

    41%!!! This time bomb isn’t ticking anymore, it’s shaking, whirring and there’s already smoke coming off it!

    • LeftisruiningCanada says

      Feb 1, 2018 at 9:48 pm

      It’s two minutes to detonation.

  5. Georg says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    “This agenda advances under the guise of victimhood…”

    Important to note as this is the currency the supremacists deal in. These Islamists are victimizers not victims and must be behaved toward as such.

  6. Tom says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 3:23 pm

    At last a government employee with the guts to tell it as it is. It took a woman with a backbone to show the males that we have to stand up for what is right.

    Kudo’s to Ms. Spielman.

  7. LeftisruiningCanada says

    Feb 1, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    Goodness, someone in a position of some power saying something we can agree with, what the heck is going on?

  8. gravenimage says

    Feb 2, 2018 at 12:55 am

    UK: Senior education official comes to aid of bullied headteacher over hijab ban
    ………………………

    Good for Amanda Spielman!

    Also note that St. Stephens is the finest public primary school in Britain. How long with that last with brutish Mohammedans bullying the teachers and staff?

  9. Carolyne says

    Feb 2, 2018 at 10:22 am

    I am saddened at what has happened to England. I used to go there twice a year, I would travel by train to various places and see the historic sites and appreciate the fact that Western civilization was created there and that I was a beneficiary of it. I could spend hours in the British Museum and Westminster Abby, as well as other famous places, i.e. Canterbury, Stonehenge (Not a product of Western civilization, but fascinating, nonetheless) and incredible private homes such as Blenheim Palace. I know that I will never be in England again and it does make me feel as if I have lost a large part of my heritage. (Although my ancestors did kick the British out of North America, or a large portion of it.)

    I will never see it again because Muslims have taken it over and are making it a third world country as fast as they can and the English, whom I admired for many years, are doing little or nothing to safeguard their own homeland. What would Churchill think? What would Margaret Thatcher do?

    Perhaps the UK no longer wants American tourists and our money, because the way things are going, most of us will stay at home and not be subjected to the current Islamic culture running wild there.

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