Date: May 2015
Gender: Male
Location: London
Case Study – XX
A Buxton Primary School in East London has given its school children what is best described as a ‘counter-extremism survey’. The survey included questions focusing on religious, ethical and views of children taking part. This is specifically as a result of “preventing individuals from drawing into terrorism” by virtue of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2015, and the new PREVENT duty introduced on 1 July 2015. There is no denying that the survey is highly Islamophobic. It is discriminatory and concerning that schools are questioning children in primary years on their beliefs – the survey is overtly targeted at Muslims. Posing questions to children concerning whether they trust the police or people from another religion is unreasonable. Moreover, the survey asked, “how do you feel about the following statements”:
“It’s never okay to use physical force to solve a problem”, “People from a different religion are probably just as good as people from mine”, “Religious books are to be understood word for word”, “If a student was making fun of my race or religion, I would try to make them stop – even if required hurting them”, and “it is my duty to defend my community from others that may threaten it”.
