News / Human Rights

Counter-terror laws ‘heavy-handed’ at British schools

Monday, 06 April 2015 1:00 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 06 April 2015 1:02 PM ]

Union warns about ‘heavy-handed' counter-terror laws at UK schools. (file photo)

The head of Britain’s largest teachers’ union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has slammed the UK’s new “counter-terrorism” laws, describing them as “too heavy handed,” which “stifle much-needed debate in schools.”

The controversial new Counter-Terrorism and Security Act became law in February. It has laid the burden of stopping children from becoming radicalised and being drawn into terrorism on schools.

Schools must also challenge extremist ideas and actively promote “British values” and are now judged on this as part of the school inspection process. If teachers fail to tell police about any concerns they have about pupils, they could face prosecution themselves.

Ahead of a NUT conference on Monday that will debate how this new law is impacting schools, the NUT general secretary, Christine Blower said teachers now fear discussing extremism in the class room because they are scared they will have to report their pupils to police.

Blower said: “Young people should absolutely have the opportunity in class to discuss these issues,” yet this is often not the case and “there are issues with the way the strategy is being used.”

"When the appalling attacks took place at Charlie Hebdo, quite a few teachers said pupils were bringing it into class saying it is a big news story - what is happening here?," Blower explained: “After the attack, some students, particularly some Muslim students, said they felt if they expressed that they were offended by the cartoons, they would be labelled as extremist.”

"The idea that young people themselves are shutting this down means that they are locked out of the discussion,” she added

The head of the NUT believes that any concerns about extremism should be dealt with under existing school procedure and not the police.

Critics have slammed the new law because they believe it is counterproductive, and could even fuel the radicalization of marginalized or vulnerable students who may already be at risk of extremism.

But the government has responded by saying “the battle against extremism begins at school where young people learn to be active, resilient and tolerant citizens, ready to seize the rich opportunities of modern Britain.”

NM/GHN

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