A London primary school which handed out questionnaires to kids which seemed to profile them for extremism has apologised for any distress caused and has launched an internal investigation.
The questionnaires handed out by Buxton School in Leytonstone asked a series of highly-loaded questions which seem to be based on a perception of extremism and radicalisation promoted by right-wing neo-cons.
Muslim parents immediately expressed concern that the questionnaires were prejudicial and that children could be labelled “extremist” and put on some sort of watch-list.
Now, in a statement, the school’s principle Kath Wheeler and chair of governors Tom Williams said the school was not aware that the questionnaire had been included in a project they had agreed to run.
They said: “When we agreed to run the BRIT project on behalf of Waltham Forest Council we were not made aware that this questionnaire would be included. If we had, current procudures would have identified from the outset as this involved potentially identifiable and sensitive information.
“The questionnaire was included in the learning materials for the first time this month and was sent directly from the London borough of Waltham Forest to a junior member of staff co-ordinating the project. It was not sent to me or or any of my senior leadership team and as such we did not have the opportunity to judge whether the questions were appropriate. If we had been given that opportunity this survey would not have been sent to our students.
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“We apologise for causing distress and worry to our students, parents and carers and others in the community who have raised very real and well-founded concerns in response to this questionnaire.
“We would alkso like to thank those people who quickly brought this matter to the school’s attention. The school takes the protection of the pupils’ data extremely seriously. The questionnaires that were filled in have been destroyed and no data has been collected or sent to anyone else. ”
Following the revelations about the survey last week Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission called the questionnaires “outrageous, racist and Islamophobic.” He also advised Muslim parents to tell their children not to fill them in.
“They’re obviously targeting Muslim children and trying to pick their brains and thoughts and effectively profile them,” he said. “But at this young age we should be thinking of nurturing and developing our children, not compartmentalising them.”
He added: “I think this questionnaire has clearly been devised by people who haven’t got a clue about radicalisation. Some of the questions are just plain ridiculous.
“It’s also clearly racist and Islamophobic – there would be uproar if they had mentionned ‘Jew’ or ‘black’ in the identity question. This reminds me of the prelude to the Nazi holocaust when Jews were profiled before they started putting Stars of David on them.”
