15 Feb 2011                                                                                                                       Press Release

The Association of Muslim Schools has called the Channel 4 “Dispatches” programme on 14th February “irresponsible” and believes that it is “highly regrettable that Channel 4 has seen fit to encourage anti-Muslim sentiments within the public domain and fan the flames of social conflict”. ‘Lessons in Hate and Violence’ was little more than scaremongering.

According to the Chair of the representative body of full-time Muslim schools in the UK, the programme conflated unregulated, part-time supplementary classes with full-time primary and secondary schools, some of which are in the state sector. This, claims Amjad Ahmed, ignored the fact that Muslim schools are often at the forefront of fostering social responsibility.
 
“Our students go on to make significant and positive contributions to the Muslim community and the wider society,” he said. “The best way to do this is to adhere to the core Islamic principles of morality and compassion.” Member schools of the AMS are committed to such standards, he added.
 
Commenting on the specific allegations made in the programme, Mr. Ahmed said that physical abuse of children is reprehensible, unacceptable and contrary to Islamic teachings. “Some mosque-schools are indeed staffed by poorly supervised and inexperienced teachers from non-British cultural backgrounds, but that doesn’t excuse their behaviour in any way.”  Full-time faith schools are regulated by the government and subject to regular reviews by inspection service providers monitored by Ofsted. The AMS has been calling for a similar inspection policy for supplementary schools and hopes that this will be introduced by the government.
 
The allegations against the Islamic High School and College were more complex but were presented by the programme in an over-simplistic and emotive manner in order to provoke offence and alarm. Such irresponsible broadcasting does little to foster community cohesion or generate the good-will needed to ensure that good practice in teaching and learning prevails in all schools.

A report from the NSPCC, out today, claims that, “One in four people in the UK, aged between 18 and 24, claims to have experienced severe violence, sexual abuse or neglect as a child”. The AMS believes that this illustrates that child abuse is still, regrettably, endemic in British society and is not unique to Muslim institutions. “Such abuse is to be condemned wherever and whenever it takes place and needs a multi-agency approach to tackle it,” says Amjad Ahmed. “Muslim schools will continue to put the protection and well-being of our children at the top of the list of priorities, but we can’t do it alone and it is both unreasonable and unjust to focus on Muslim institutions in the way that Dispatches has done.”
 

ENDS

The Association of Muslim Schools UK is the UK’s Muslim schools umbrella body with around 100 affiliated schools.
 
For further information please contact AMS Chairman Amjad Ahmed
 
AMS UK
PO BOX 14109
Birmingham
B6 9BN
 
Tel: 08444 820 407
Mobile: 07960 881 211
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.ams-uk.org