UK Muslim School in Phone Fury

A Muslim school has sparked outrage in Britain after a snooping teacher brokee into a student's phone to prove she was having a 'haram' relationship with a boy. The 16-year old's mother called in cops after a teacher allegedly stole the girl's device and had it unblocked earlier this month. Photos of the girl and a fellow Year 11 student, as well as text messages, were then used as evidence to convict them of being in a “forbidden” relationship. Shortly afterwards, the girl was suspended from Park View School a couple of weeks prior to her end-of-year exams.

A staff member, speaking on the conditon of anonymity, told The Daily Telegraph: “This was an appalling act of bullying and invasion of privacy,” adding the teacher involved was part of a “moral police” force, imposing Muslim values on students. The Park View school in Birmingham claims to be secular yet leaked documents reveal that girls and boys were often forced to sit separately and students were allegedly encouraged to fast before their GCSE exams to promote “the right spiritual frame of mind.”

Park View has denied that it segregates its students, maintaining “that girls and boys are free to sit where they wish in lessons.” Meanwhile pupils were encouraged to compete in a “Ramadan competition,” sparking concern among some teachers who felt the children’s health and ability to learn would be harmed by an 18-hour fast. A staff member added: “Pupils were starving themselves all day at a stressful time and then had an iftar [meal breaking the fast] in the evening in school, with prayers for the exams.”

Ofsted, the UK’s official body for investigating schools, and the Department of Education are currently looking at 18 schools in the Birmingham area that are thought to have been taken over by Muslim hardliners. Birmingham City Council has also launched its own probe into 25 schools. Ofsted’s findings are expected to be published later this month in a report. Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city, with a population of over 1 million, 22 percent of which is Muslim, according to the 2011 census.