Morgan urges Muslims to become school governors after Trojan horse
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Version 0 of 1. Education secretary Nicky Morgan has sought to reassure Muslim parents by saying that the Trojan horse affair in Birmingham was an exception, and that it was important for Muslims to sign up as school governors because they “had a huge amount to contribute”. “We are not aware of anything else like Birmingham, in terms of the scale, across the country,” Morgan said of the investigations into a series of schools with large numbers of Muslim pupils, in an interview with Muslim News. But Morgan defended the teaching of British values, introduced in the wake of Trojan horse, saying: “There are a majority of nurseries, a majority of schools, a majority of parents who absolutely want young minds to be opened and not to be closed and that’s what we are seeking to support in the promotion of fundamental British values, which I think are shared by people up and down the country regardless of their religion, faith or ethnic background.” Morgan took over as education secretary from Michael Gove at the tail end of the Trojan horse investigations, but the interview marks her first extended public comment on the affair that saw the management of five Birmingham schools replaced over allegations of hardline Islamic influence. Morgan said the investigation by former counter-terrorism police chief Peter Clark revealed a “spectrum of behaviours” including “anti-western assemblies or the segregation of boys and girls for no educational reason,” as well as “things like homophobia, which we do not accept in this country”. “What Peter Clark’s report had found was that there was no evidence of radicalisation or terrorism or violent extremism in the schools in Birmingham, but there were examples, I think he called it a ‘concerted attempt’, by a small number of people, to follow a particular ideology,” Morgan said. Morgan however insisted that an investigation had been the right decision: “I think anybody would expect that if we received any kind of a letter about what is being taught in schools, which could relate to some of the views and accusations that we saw in Birmingham, but it could also relate to child abuse, it could relate to children being put at risk … I think we absolutely have to take anything like that seriously and check it out, and that’s what happened.” A Department for Education source said it was important to note that some of the complaints received about the Trojan Horse schools involved had come from parents who were Muslims themselves. In response to complaints that a Muslim faith state school in Birmingham had its entire board of governors replaced with non-Muslims, Morgan told Muslim News: “Perhaps I can use your interview … to say to Muslim parents and others in the communities that I very much want them to come forward to be governors of schools, whether they are Muslim majority schools or non-Muslim majority schools, whether in Birmingham or right across the country.” Asked about the incendiary language surrounding the debate around Trojan horse, Morgan said that politicians should be “very conscious of the language we use and make sure it is appropriate, proportionate and absolutely not seen to be criticizing one particular community”. |