The UK’s schools watchdog Ofsted found an Islamic primary school did not provide toilet paper for its pupils and had books written by a banned Islamic extremist in its library.
The Olive Tree Primary School, a private Islamic school in the high-immigration population town of Luton, was already warned in May 2017 to remove “inappropriate” books that did not “promote British values”, but the material was found in a further inspection in November.
“Although leaders stated they had removed them, inspectors found the same books during this inspection.
“The books were written by an author who is banned from entering, or has been expelled from, several countries, including Britain,” wrote the watchdog.
The school, which teaches around 80 children from the ages of five to 11, was also criticised for its sanitation, noting that children washed their cutlery in the bathroom sinks, and girls had discarded food out of their toilet windows, with the debris rotting in the security bars.
In the boys’ toilets, there was no toilet paper, soap, or hand-drying facilities, meaning pupils “have to ask an adult in class for toilet tissue”.
“Little is done to maintain a clean environment and promote good hygiene skills,” the report added.
In December, Breitbart London reported on an Islamic girls’ high school in Stoke-on-Trent which did not provide toilet paper for the pupils on cultural grounds “because [the pupils] are Asian”. The school was also found to have sectarian material on premises and was given the lowest grading of “inadequate” by Ofsted.
Inspectors in May 2014 found a range of books in the Luton primary school’s library that they said “promotes and condones as lawful in a modern context, punishments such as stoning, lashing and execution”.
Two such books identified were The Ideal Muslim by Dr. Muhammad Ali Al Hashimi (2006) which advocates “parents hitting children if they do not pray by the age of ten” and Commanders of the Muslim Army by Mahmood Ahmad Ghadanfar (2001) which “praises individuals who ‘loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion’”.
A spokesman for the school told The Sun on Tuesday that the report’s findings were “quite unfair” and “just another case of nitpicking”, adding: “The whole environment at the school is conducive to implementing British values, but they find one book and they think that eradicates everything.
“We have removed all books which may cause any offence. Sometimes we feel Ofsted is not very accommodating.”
Of the 177 Islamic schools in England, 148 are independent. Since 2015, 57 per cent of the 139 independent Muslim schools inspected were rated less than “good”, compared to 11 per cent of all schools. Many were rated low for failing to promote British values.
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