 Equal-opportunity enforced ignorance. "Pakistan: Militants blow up boy's school in northwest," from AdnKronos International, January 18: Landi Kotal, 18 Jan. (AKI) - Militants on Monday blew up a government primary school for boys in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber tribal region, Pakistani media reported. The militants planted two powerful bombs which exploded simultaneously, destroying the school. No casualties were reported. Security forces and political administration officials cordoned off the area after the attack, which local officials blamed on the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam). Lashkar-e-Islam is the main extremist group operating in Khyber, which has some ideological ties to the Pakistani Taliban. So far, militants have destroyed more than 15 schools in Khyber agency. Also on Monday, four militants were killed in an armed clash with Pakistani security forces in the District Char Bagh of North West Frontier Province's troubled Swat district. The Pakistani army says at least 2,150 militants were killed in Swat - a Taliban stronghold - and neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts in an offensive there between April and July last year. The army claimed to have wiped out most of the insurgent strongholds during the three-month operation.
A BBC report on how and what Muslims are teaching in private Islamic schools in the U.K. is very surprising and disheartening for natives of the United Kingdom, who have been living there for centuries before the migration of Muslims. The report can be found on Youtube. Dr. Sumaya Alyusaf, director of the King Fahad Academy, recognized that their books and curriculum, taught to Muslim children, say that Jews are monkeys and Christians are pigs. She confessed that these are the books that were taught in her schools. However, the arrogant and haughty Alyusaf, notwithstanding the advice of the interviewer, openly refused to withdraw those hatemongering books from her schools. To defend the Quran, she said that we should not see the misinterpretation of the specific verses that says Christians are pigs and Jews are monkeys, but we should see and consider the entire story in the chapter of the Quran. After that only would we understand the true soul of the Quran that it teaches humanity to mankind. This is real laughable and ridiculous answer by Dr. Alyusaf. The interviewer also raised the point that schools, overseen by the Fahd Academy, also teaches that those, who do not follow Islam, will be perished in Hellfire. Dr. Alyusaf denied this, but only to accept it in her next sentence that Islam emphasizes that whoever does not believe in Muhammad as the final messenger, he/she will find their abode in the Hell fire and the Quran testifies this many times. My advice and request to those high authorities of non-Muslim countries that they should open an organization on how to deal with Islam and truth about Islam. They can now openly tell to their students that Muslims are dogs; they should teach the true history of the real pirates of Arabia of the 7th and 8th centuries that ruled over the weak, oppressed women, and engaged in massive killings. How Muslims claim that women have equal rights in Islam even after practicing polygamy and distribution of less property share than their brothers inherited from their parents. I personally believe that now is the right time that Islam should be exposed naked before the world, before this virus spreads in the minds of otherwise innocent people, who might go to kill innocent people, even their own parents, siblings, and beloved ones. Islam Watch
 We must admire a fanaticism that inevitably leads to the demonisation and destruction of its foes:
The Taliban can be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to one another, the new Bishop for the Armed Forces has claimed.
The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists that recognises their humanity… “There’s a large number of things that the Taliban say and stand for which none of us in the west could approve, but simply to say therefore that everything they do is bad is not helping the situation because it’s not honest really. ”The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.” Venner is, of course, just channelling Lyse Doucet, a BBC apologist for the Taliban: A BBC presenter has attacked coverage of Afghanistan’s ongoing war, claiming TV reporters are not covering the humanity of the Taliban. AP today reports on what the admirable and humane Taliban is up to at the moment in Pakistan: The Taliban has routinely attacked schools, particularly ones attended by girls.... In one month in Peshawar, 221 people were killed and nearly 500 wounded in bombings. A single truck bomb in a market that sells mostly women’s clothes and children’s toys killed more than 100. The latest attack was Monday when a bomb went off outside the courthouse in Peshawar, killing 10 people… Dr. Arif Attaullah says he does not cry easily. But when the truck bomb killed 112 people in Peshawar’s Mena Bazaar he could not stop the tears. “A father came in and he was holding a small boy. The boy’s body was burned black and his father was crying: `I sent you to school to learn, not to die,’” Attaullah says. “That made me cry. I am a tough person — a surgeon — but day after day we are seeing these things that are too horrible.”
Praise the fanaticism that can inspire such barbarity. So the bishop of Britain’s armed forces instructs. Andrew Bolt
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Grisly ghosts haunt 8-year-old Saira Khan's dreams. Her tiny hands cover her mouth as she tells of the images that come to her at night, images of burnt and mutilated bodies. She heard an explosion last month just a few blocks away from her cousin's home. "I got so scared," she says, her eyes getting wider. "We didn't know what to do, so we just lay on the floor." Peshawar, where Saira lives, is on the front line of Pakistan's war against militants. In October, the Pakistani army launched its most concentrated offensive yet in northwest Pakistan, against the tribal strongholds of some of the country's most ruthless militants. The government said Saturday that the offensive was winding down, although operations were continuing in the area. The militants in turn are fighting back with a vicious bombing campaign. They are striking with frightening regularity anywhere and everywhere in the city. That leaves the people of Peshawar caught in between, afraid, fed up and mistrustful of all sides: the militants, the Pakistani army and the United States, which is seen as supporting the push against insurgents. Peshawar hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded from nearly daily explosions. Dozens of police barricades meant to catch suicide bombers slow the chaotic traffic on bigger roads to a crawl. Schools are shut periodically because of security fears. Ten-year-old Kainat, who goes to Saira's school, calls her hometown scary and telephones her friends all the time now. "I am just worried about everyone," she says. "I talk to them all the time, and I ask, 'how is your mother and your father and everyone is safe?' I just want to know that everyone is all right." The school hides within a 10-foot-high metal gate with two guards watching it. One guard checks the small backpacks of the children every morning with a metal detector. The Taliban has routinely attacked schools, particularly ones attended by girls. More at Foxnews
 An elementary Catholic school in Weert (Netherlands) decided to serve just halal food this year for its Christmas meal. The school has about 400 students and about ten Muslim students. However, after some parents complained, the school backed down.The Christmas meal is organized every year together with the parents association. According to principal Margo Janssen they decided for practical considerations to serve halal for everybody. In previous years they took the Muslims into account and served them separate halal dishes, but this wouldn't be necessary if everybody is served halal. Janssen points out that this is also done in hospitals and prisons. This year they thought it would be simpler and cheaper to serve everybody halal. According to Janssen this also follows Christian thought, which says you should take others into account. He says that there's no real reason to make a fuss about it. "It's the spirit of the times. We have no intention at all to give a signal with this. It's still a Christmas meal with a Christian background." They would have a nativity scene and a candle march. It all happened with the best of intentions, he says. Jean Paul van der Donk, chairman of the parents association, says they've received eight complaints from angry parents. But, he says, those parents should understand that they didn't choose halal food for religious reasons, but purely for practical reasons. Catholics aren't forbidden to eat halal meat, while the opposite is the case for Muslims. After getting complaints from parents the management decided to review the issue. The school has since changed its mind and decided to offer every student a choice of what to eat. "We've been naive as a school," the school's site says. They hope to now go back to having a festive Christmas meal, and hope the school's name won't be damaged by one not so well thought out decision. Sources: Telegraaf, Trouw, Rorate (Dutch), h/t NRP
 The irony is most likely completely lost on the EU. "Turkey prepares to join EU in a building confiscated from the Orthodox," by Nat da Polis for AsiaNews, December 11: Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Unbelievable but true: the headquarters of the Secretariat for the entry of Turkey into the European Union is a building confiscated from the Orthodox Christian community in the 90s.
The building is located in Istanbul, in the well-known area of Ortakoy, under the first bridge over the Bosphorus. Before the seizure, the building was used as a primary school for children of the minority Orthodox in Ortakoy. Here, once lived a thriving Orthodox community, now non-existent because of past purges against minorities, executed by the "secular" Turkish State. Thanks to the policy of purging, the building and many other schools, at one point found themselves without students, unused and then confiscated. The forfeiture rule however prevented foundations - owners of buildings - from allocating them to different uses.
The community of Ortakoy appealed to the administrative courts in Istanbul, which have yet to rule on the issue. In case of a ruling to the contrary, the Orthodox intend to apply to the court in Strasbourg. The inauguration of the Secretariat took place in the presence of Prime Minister Erdogan, accompanied by Minister for European Affairs Bajis and by various authorities and European representation. The event has aroused unease in diplomatic circles in Brussels, so much so that on the eve of the inauguration, a senior government official visited Patriarch Bartholomew I to let them know that the courts decision will be respected. The question also arises whether the current Turkish government aware of the building's history. Hmm. Meanwhile in Brussels some discomfort is spreading towards politicians who are champions of Turkey's entry into the EU. Ankara has not yet shown a convincing European orientation, it is believed that the "champions" are tied to the country by economic and financial interests. One suggestion for resolving the issue comes from Lakis Vigas, representative of minorities in Turkey in the General Directorate of Foundations. Interviewed by the newspaper Milliyet on the case of Ortakoy, he says a possible solution would be if the Ortakoy foundation were granted the possibility to lease the building to the Turkish nation. This gesture would have a noble purpose: the entry of Turkey into the EU the "source of our hopes." That is, be a good dhimmi and play along. Anyway, for a truly noble, tolerant gesture, how about giving back the Hagia Sophia? With thanks to JihadWatch
 At least eight people have been killed, mostly students, in a bombing at a school in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
Among the dead were six children between the ages of 6 and 12, an Iraqi police official said.
Monday's blast also wounded at least 41 others. The toll is expected to rise.
An interior ministry official confirmed the casualties.
The blast took place at Abaa Dhar School for boys, in Baghdad's Shia district of Sadr City, an area that has seen only infrequent attacks because it is encircled by US and Iraqi security forces and has its own neighbourhood security. Many children were returning to school for the first time after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.
Twenty-five children were among the wounded, two hospital officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.
The blast partially toppled a brick wall in front of the school, leaving a crater that quickly filled with muddy water, apparently from a broken water line.
The attack comes a day after the Iraqi parliament passed a new electoral law paving a way for the general elections in February.
Iraqi and US military officials have expressed concern about a possible spurt in attacks aimed at destabilising the government before next year's elections.
On Monday, gunmen stormed a checkpoint near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing five members of an anti-al-Qaeda group, police said.
The men were members of the Sunni Awakening Council, one of many Sunni groups that have begun taking on al-Qaeda in Iraq.
There are an estimated 2.5 million Shia living in Sadr City, a stronghold of Shia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, known for his anti-US stance.
 A month ago I reported that Hizb ut-Tahrir was receiving gov't subsidies in order to run a nursery and two schools in the UK.One commentator on my blog claimed that those allegations were untrue, and that the school did not teach a Hizb ut-Tahrir ideology.According to the article the schools are run by the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, a registered charity, and at least three of the four trustees are Hizb ut-Tahrir members or activists. The original article was meanwhile either moved or removed. British Conservatives brought up the issue in Parliament last week, but the gov't claimed they had their facts wrong: 1. The money did not come from an anti-terrorism fund, as the Conservatives claimed 2. The school had been inspected by Ofsted, the British school inspection department Andrew Gilligan, who broke the original story, rejects those claims. Cameron did mess up by saying that the cash was from the Pathfinder part of the Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) fund. It was actually from a different fund, for nursery education, confusingly also called Pathfinder.
Nor does HT run the schools directly. They're run by a charity called the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation. "Shakhsiyah Islamiyah," or the creation of an "Islamic personality," is one of the key tenets of HT ideology - the title of a three-volume book by the group's founder that is required reading for all new recruits.
But Balls is not playing a straight bat. He says the Foundation has told him "that it no longer has any links with any of the individuals who are alleged to have connections with Hizb ut-Tahrir".
Firstly, as Balls ought to recognise, that's not the point. The point is the situation prevailing at the time the money was paid. And at that time, the lead trustee of the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation and "proprietor" of one of the schools was Yusra Hamilton, who definitely does have "connections with HT." She's spoken at HT conferences. She's the wife of HT's main media spokesman, Taji Mustafa. Even the Foundation refuses to deny that she's a member of HT.The Conservatives admit they didn't get all the fact straight, but continue to claim that the schools are run by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Mr Balls told BBC2’s Newsnight: “The issue here is that a very divisive allegation was made about two schools which splits communities, which divides our country, on the basis of false allegations.“The question is, were these schools promoting terrorism or extremism? We have sent in Ofsted advisers, who have gone in and said 'No'. I looked across the curriculum and the evidence was 'No'. In the last few weeks... Haringey and Slough looked at the facts and there was no evidence that extremism has been promoted.“That’s the responsible thing to do. The responsible thing for David Cameron to do was to check the facts with me before he made smears and allegations which divide our communities.”
But Conservative communities spokesman Paul Goodman told Newsnight: “A charity controlled by an extremist organisation that supports attacks on our troops in Afghanistan has been funded by Ed Balls’ department. Ed Balls is throwing up chaff.
“We know perfectly well that the person who headed up this charity has spoken on Hizb ut Tahrir platforms and her husband is the main media operator for Hizb ut Tahrir in the UK.” Most articles supporting the gov't focus on the fact that the schools passed inspection, but apparently the school inspector is not a completely neutral party: However, the first report on the Haringey school, in November 2007, said not enough was being done “to promote cultural tolerance and harmony”.In a second report in May 2008, the inspector, Michele Messaoudi, said “satisfactory progress” had been made.(..)The Daily Telegraph has learned that Ms Messaoudi has links with Islamic organisations and events. Last year, she was a judge for the Global Peace and Unity awards in London.
The awards and the associated conference, which Ofsted said Ms Messaoudi did not attend, are organised by the Islam Channel, whose chief executive, Mohammed Ali Harrath, is wanted by Interpol for alleged terrorist offences.
 LEWISTON — A national Muslim civil rights organization has filed a formal request with the Lewiston School Department to allow a middle school student to pray on school property. The group also wants Lewiston to modify existing policy and provide "constitutionally protected religious accommodation," such as a designated prayer room. The group has also requested the school department institute diversity training for school staff, and to ensure the middle-schooler won't face retaliation because of her request to pray at the Lewiston Middle School. According to the Washington, D.C.,-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, seventh-grader Nasra Aden had been routinely "praying discreetly during her free time or lunch break in a corner of a school hallway." But, on Tuesday, CAIR asserts a teacher told Aden "never to pray on school property" after Aden was seen preparing to kneel in prayer in a corner of one of the hallways. After Aden told her mother, Jamad Warsame, what happened, Warsame spoke with school Principal Maureen Lachappelle and asked the school to accommodate her daughter's desire to pray. According to CAIR, Warsame's request was rebuffed and she has been "forced to pick up her daughter every day and take her to a nearby park to pray." Lachappelle said Aden is not being forced to leave school to pray, but that the district accommodated her mother's request for her to leave the campus this past week for prayer. More at the Sun Journal H/T: Atlas
 Many independent Muslim schools in England are under threat of closure, according to the Association of Muslim Schools (AMS).The organisation, which represents almost 100 independent Islamic institutions, said many could not afford to stay open. Most schools use fees and donations to cover costs and need about £2000 per pupil per year to stay afloat. But the recession has seen donations fall and parents unable to pay fees. The threat applies to "almost all" of the 130 Muslim faith schools in England, according to the association.Among these, 119 are independent and reliant on fees and donations, but 11 are in the state sector so have guaranteed income and are not under threat. Dr Mohammed Mukadhum, the chairman of AMS, said the schools, attended by thousands of pupils, were hand-to-mouth organisations, operating on a shoestring budget. Dr Mukadhum said: ''Many of them have been relatively recently established so there has always been some financial struggle. "But the economic crisis has put them under enormous pressure and they are getting through each day with great difficulty,'' he said. ''The possibility of closing down is a looming reality and the smaller schools are the ones that are most vulnerable,'' he added. (..) Zainab Rahman, 11, is in year seven at the secondary school. ''I love it here, I get to learn about my religion and I can talk openly about it. "But if this school shuts down, I won't have anywhere to go," she said. She said because there were no other Muslim faith schools in Oxford, she would be sent to Pakistan to study and would have to live with relatives there. Her best friend was sent to Pakistan last month to be educated there, she said, because her parents could not afford the school fees. ''She didn't really have a choice and had to go abroad. "I've lost touch with her since," Zainab said. ( more)
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – Taliban militants blew up a girls' school in Pakistan's Khyber district on Tuesday, the third such attack in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan so far this month, officials said. An intelligence official in the area said Taliban attacked the government-run school overnight when no one was at the property. "The girls' middle school was badly damaged because of the explosion, now the school building is almost out of use. The classrooms, desks and chairs were also damaged," Farooq Khan, a local administrative official told AFP. The incident took place at Yousaf Kely village near Bara town, around 20 kilometres (13 miles) south of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province which has been hit by five suicide attacks in the last eight days. Islamist militants have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in the northwest of the country in recent years. Nearly 200 schools were destroyed in the Swat valley alone during a two-year Taliban uprising to enforce sharia law in a district once favoured by Western tourists for its ski slopes and mountain air. Following up a similar offensive in Swat this summer, Pakistan has been fighting against homegrown militants in Khyber and pressing a major assault designed to crush Taliban sanctuaries in South Waziristan. Authorities last month shut schools across Pakistan following a suicide attack on a university campus in Islamabad, although most have since reopened. Yahoo News
 By Liz HullA Muslim student has been banned from enrolling at a college because she refused to remove her burkha. Shawana Bilqes, 18, wanted to wear the garment - which covers her body and face, leaving only her eyes visible - during lessons. But staff at Burnley College refused to enrol her, claiming the burkha was a barrier to 'safety and communication'. In a strongly worded statement, the college said 'unimpeded' face to face contact between teachers and students was vital. Miss Bilqes, who wanted to study an access course for a diploma, has now been forced to abandon her plans and is looking elsewhere to complete her studies.
Yesterday she said: 'It is my choice to wear the veil.
'I live around the corner from the college in an area where there are so many practising Muslims. 'I tried to compromise but they wouldn't. The college sent me a letter to say I could continue with my course if I stopped wearing the veil. 'We are in the 21st century and we get people from all walks of life. I'm in the police cadets as well and yet it's not a problem wearing the veil there.' John Smith, principal of the college, in Burnley, defended the actions of his staff. He said that a student's face must be fully visible to maintain high standards of teaching between staff and pupils, adding that it was crucial to wear photo ID around the campus for security reasons.
'We do require all students of Burnley College to have their faces visible when at the college,' he said. 'We are determined to maintain the highest standards of teaching and learning. To do this effectively requires unimpeded communication from the teacher to all students, from the students to the teacher and between student and student. 'It is not possible to maintain this essential full communication if the face of any student is not fully visible. 'We are also determined to provide a safe environment for all our students. Central to this is that all members of the college community should be identifiable at all times. 'To this end we require students and staff to wear a security card which displays their photograph. 'Where individuals decline to comply, then I am afraid we cannot accommodate them.' Read more at Mail Online H/T: WeaselZippers
 Nick Pisa in RomeThe Vatican has surprisingly welcomed a proposal to teach Islam in Italian schools. Adolfo Urso, an ally of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said the subject should be taught for an hour a week to "avoid Muslim youngsters being drawn to the ghettos of madrasse (Islamic schools) run by fundamentalists" and was backed by deputy prime minister Gianfranco Fini. Cardinal Renato Martino, of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said: "This would avoid radicalism and should be considered - obviously with some form of control." But the proposal rocked Fini's Right-wing coalition and was slammed by the anti-immigration Northern League. Source: The Evening Standard H/T: WomenAgainstSharia
 The majority of schools across Pakistan are to close for at least a week following threats from the Taliban in response to the military's offensive in South Waziristan, officials said. Military schools and colleges announced a temporary closure on Sunday after threats were made known to them that a school bus may be hijacked, security officials said. A number of private and government schools were also considering a temporary closure on Sunday following the military schools' announcement, Pakistani security officials said. Aamir Ghauri, editor of the Asian Journal, told Al Jazeera that the recent escalation in violence had made Pakistan "a country of fear". "People actually don't want to go to work," he said. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher, reporting from Islamabad, said government officials feared that schools could be targeted by suicide bombers, or that pupils could be taken hostage by those threatening to blow the school up. "We have no way of confirming whether or not the threats were made by the Taliban, but the threat was enough for the Pakistani government to take this action," he said. The Pakistani military launched its first major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan on Saturday. A spokesperson for the Taliban has vowed the group will fight to the "last drop of blood", and both sides have said they are gaining the upper hand. On Sunday the military said it had seized key Taliban bases during the first 24 hours of fighting which saw at least five soldiers and 60 Taliban fighters killed. But the Taliban also claims it has inflicted heavy casualties on the Pakistani army, pushing them back into their bases. As many as 150,000 civilians have left the area in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault. Around 350,000 others are estimated to still be in the region. Security forces said they had captured key Taliban strongholds near on Saturday after the fighters withdrew from their fortifications and took refuge in nearby mountains, officials said. The army says about 28,000 soldiers are battling an estimated 10,000 Taliban fighters, including about 1,000 Uzbeks and some Arab al-Qaeda members. The Pakistani offensive comes after a series of bomb attacks across the country over the past two weeks that have killed more than 170 people. In the latest attack, at least 11 people died in two explosions near a police office in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Friday. Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from in Islamabad, said police believed the string attacks across Pakistan had been planned from South Waziristan where Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, is based. "So this is a crucial operation to decapitate the head of the senior Pakistani Taliban leadership," he said. "But there is always the problem that if you squeeze the Taliban in one area, they pop up in another." Speaking to Al Jazeera, Hamid Nawaz, a former Pakistani general and military-affairs analyst, said he believed the army could complete its operations before the December snowfall. "This is not going to be a set-piece battle ... the theatre of operations is only about 6,000km sq and there will only be pockets of resistance. "And efforts have been made to co-ordinate attacks with Nato troops as well as the Afghan army on the other side of the of the border to prevent anyone escaping." Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Bangladesh claims to possess the second largest religious school system in the world. Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reports from Dhaka, the capital, where over the past few years the government has been implementing a series of reforms to include more secular subjects in the curriculum and increase the numbers of female students. The authorities have been offering incentives - providing cash to cover 80 per cent of scholastic costs - to see their reforms through. This is proving to be hugely successful, bringing most madrassas under state supervision; religious schools that are largely funded by the government now follow both the state and religious curricula. Zainul Abedine, the headmaster of the country's largest Islamic school, says: "In order to access government funds, many madrassas have opened their syllabus to other subjects like teaching languages such as English or Bengali. The number of madrassas have multiplied and so have the [numbers of] students". With more then six million students currently enrolled, the madrassa system in Bangladesh is the second-largest in the world and is likely to get even larger as religious institutions open their doors to female students for the first time. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a senior Islamic scholar, has welcomed the move to educate girls in madrassas. "Girls are thriving – they tend to perform better than male students," he said. A recent study by Nazmul Chaudhury, of the World Bank, found that young people's attitudes were interlinked with that of their teachers and that the presence of female instructors leads to increased openness in both female and male students. In stark contrast to the allegations that madrassas cultivate intolerance, this study found that in Bangladesh "modernised religious education is associated with attitudes that are conducive to democracy". Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 With the school year beginning in Gaza, the Hamas regime appears to be moving to impose Islamic dress codes on female students. Hamas has ordered schoolgirls to wear long-sleeved dresses called jilbabs as well as head scarves. Failure to do so could lead to expulsion from school. Until two years ago, girls could wear jeans or trousers in Gaza public schools. But since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, it has pressured schools to force female students to dress in accordance with Islamic rules. The order follows a decree issued last month by a local judge requiring all female lawyers who appear in Gaza courts to wear the hijab (Muslim head scarf). A source in the Hamas-controlled Education Ministry told Jerusalem Post reporter Khaled Abu Toameh that school administrators had been given approval to decide on what type of clothing students should wear. "In many schools, the administrations, in coordination with the families, decided to impose hijabs and jilbabs on girls," the source said. Read more ...Source: IPT Blog
Vienna: Parents upset at school which requires students to taste pork, alcoholIn the Vienna office of the Turkish newspaper Zaman the complaint letters are piling up from angry Muslim parents. People are indignant, says editor Aynur Kirci. They say that what the restaurant industry school in the Meidling neighborhood of Vienna requires from its students conflicts with human rights and the Austrian constitution. He adds that in the 90s, the 'dumpling academy' in Vienna let through a headscarf wearer without any problems, but suddenly everything is different. Elisabeth Berger, head of the school, requires all parents of students this year, including those who are Muslim, to sign a form. The form states that students taking the cuisine and service course must learn how the Viennese prepare food and drink as well as how to advise customers on their choices. This goes with a corresponding appearance - that is, a headscarf ban while serving. Read more ... Source: OE24 (German)H/T: Islam in Europe
 It's difficult to assess three independent incidents and conclude a trend is brewing. However, public schools in the United States, Canada and England are battling efforts to add Muslim curriculum or to tolerate power plays by Muslim students and their parents. Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state-funded Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Minneapolis for violating the First Amendment's establishment clause. The school, founded and run by Muslim American Society (MAS) officials, "advances, endorses, and prefers the Muslim religion over other religions or nonsectarian approaches in connection with school activities and fosters entanglement between government and religion." In England, a former school principal is seeking damages from a county council for what she considered to be harassment from the school's Muslim students and their parents. Erica Connor was accused of "racism and Islamophobia" in a petition seeking her ouster and claims to have been accosted by a group of Muslim students. The local education authority abandoned her, she claims in her litigation. After an initial investigation cleared Connor of any wrongdoing, ongoing pressure prompted a second review. It found she "had not been responsive to the needs of the faith community." Upon reading of the teacher's plight, Canadian writer Barbara Kay was reminded of a similar episode that happened to a friend of hers. Using a pseudonym, Kay describes a teacher, the child of Holocaust survivors, who taught at an Ottawa high school until 2004. She left because of ongoing harassment by Muslim students who figured out she is Jewish. Read more ...Source: IPT News
Schools must be more alert to honor-murder. Offenses based on honor-violence happen more often than realized. Intervening in time can prevent victims, according to a study by research agency Sardes for the Ministry of Integration. The results were published Thursday in the conference "Honor related violence in and around the school" (Eergerelateerd geweld in en om de school).
Sardes studied 40 middle-schools and regional educational centers (ROCs) all over the Netherlands. Twenty four of these had dealt with honor-related violence in previous years. Students were threatened or even murdered by family members because they had blemished the family honor. Sometimes the perpetrators sat in class. Most victims were girls of Turkish or Moroccan origins who had lived too loosely, according to their families. Source: Islam in EuropeH/T: Europe News
Suspected pro-Taleban militants have burnt down three more girls' high schools in the Swat valley of north-west Pakistan, officials say. Ten schools have been destroyed in the district in the last four days. Nearly 70 state-run schools have been burnt down in the area in recent months, affecting over 17,000 students. There has been no word from militant groups in relation to the latest arson attacks, but local militants group have admitted to such attacks in the past. Correspondents say militant groups trying to enforce strict Islamic law want the schools to be shut down. Read more ...Source: BBC
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Equal-opportunity enforced ignorance. "Pakistan: Militants blow up boy's school in northwest," from AdnKronos International, January 18:
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