Prevent, the UK government’s strategy to combat radicalisation in schools, has come under a worrying amount of fire that suggests it might actually be doing more harm than good.
Sky News are reporting that the scheme issingling out and demonising kids, and even pushing them into the hands of extremists. Prevent has been implemented since July and puts a legal duty on schools to tackle radicalisation, but Muslim parents are saying that it’s hard line approach is having the opposite effect. Ifhat Smith of Haggerston in east London, told Sky that her 14 year-old son was taken out of class and interrogated by two adults for mentioning “eco-terrorism”.
“My son came home and said 'I’ve been asked today if I was affiliated to ISIS',” Ms Smith explained to Sky. "The school said that they did it under Prevent… but it was a discussion that happened with the whole class, [no]one else in the peer group was questioned. My son’s always felt that he’s really part of the school community - teachers know him and he's trusted.
“So to be interrogated in that manner, it's really shocked him… It's created suspicion. Now he's not so vocal in his lessons for fear that anything he says can be misconstrued. That's no way for a child to be growing up.”
Teachers also criticised Prevent to Sky, and in particular the training materials provided. Hafiz Rahman, an English teacher and imam at Carlton Bolling School in Bradford, told them: “It was quite [focused on] Islamic extremism, one strand of extremism, I think our students would have been quite taken aback by that. The video was telling them unfortunately what they are responsible for. We changed that programme adapting it... to a holistic range of extremism.”
Obviously, schools are a vital part of protecting vulnerable kids from being lured in by extremists—but these reports of strong-arm tactics are very worrying. Tensions are understandably high after events in Paris, and there’s been several high profile reportedincidents Muslim people facing alleged prejudice in the UK in recent weeks. But we need to reach out to people and make them feel included in our society, not vilify them and push them into the grasp of the extremists.
