Islamic students swap places with Catholics, atheists in radical social experiment to break down racial barriers
With xenophobia and racism on the rise, four South East Queensland high schools have embarked on a radical televised social experiment involving six Islamic, four Catholic and two atheist students swapping places for a term.
Logan
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Four South East Queensland high schools are at the forefront of a bold national television social experiment which involves six Islamic students, four Catholic students and two atheist students swapping places for a term.
Year 9 and 10 students from the Islamic College of Brisbane (ICB) traded places with pupils from northside Catholic high schools Padua College and Mt Alvernia in the groundbreaking experiment, known as The Swap.
Not all who took part were from religious schools with two students from Ferny Grove State High School, which is non-denominational.
Students visiting the Muslim-based college were surprised to find ICB does not teach music because it is regarded as a distraction and “may incite carnal thoughts”.
They were also surprised to find that the college did not recognise homosexuality and separated boys and girls in the classroom.
The Swap experiment was the brainchild of Islamic College of Brisbane chief executive Ali Kadri, who came up with the idea after speaking with past pupils who told him they struggled interacting with people from different cultures when they joined the workforce.
“The southside suburbs and Logan are definitely multicultural but that is not true for the rest of the country and I think we need to teach young people how to interact, engage and respect differences,” Mr Kadri said.
“We found that kids who go to school with those from different backgrounds build friendships and learn to respect their differences — which is what we hope this experience will highlight.
“People who are not exposed to these differences early in life are more susceptible to biases which become more and more entrenched over time.
“Past students from my college have told me that after they left school they struggled to interact with people of different faiths and values because they grew up at the Islamic College with other Muslims.
“Students from other faiths would also experience similar problems interacting with Muslims and so I decided to give the students a chance to taste what it is like at another school.”
One of the Muslim students chosen to be part of the documentary was Rania Shahzad, who joined Ahmed Siddiqui, Amna Chaudhry, Laila Ali, Sharif Raja Bu and Yassen Naaman from the Islamic College and made the hour-long trip each day for classes at the northside schools.
Padua College students Isaac Healy and Jack Woodward, Mount Alvernia College’s Eliza Ward and Martina Vitale along with Ferny Grove State School’s Sonya Gerstel and Brynn Holmes-Clark all traded places to go to school at the Islamic College at Karawatha in Logan.
Rania, now in year 10 at ICB, was first to put her hand up to be part of the fly-on-the-wall expose and study at Ferny Grove State School.
Although all the study material was very similar to what she would have learned at ICB, Rania said a main difference at Ferny Grove was there was no gender segregation.
“At my school, girls sit on one side of the class and eat their lunch in a separate area to the boys,” Rania said.
“At Ferny Grove, it was mixed and we could sit next to anyone. There were also LGBTIQ students.
“At my school, there are separate lines for girls and boys at the tuckshop too.
“I did get some stares because I was wearing a scarf (hijab) and also my ICB uniform but the gender segregation was different.
“When I first met Sonya (Gerstel) from Ferny Grove, she asked if it was okay to touch me.
“But, on the whole, there were very few differences and it was exciting and fun,” she said.
When Ferny Grove State School year 10 student Sonya Gerstel brought a packed lunch which included bacon in a quiche, the Muslim students at ICB were able to explain that they did not eat pork, ham or bacon.
Another difference for the Muslim students at the northside schools was carrying out ablutions and washing their feet and hands before prayers.
Mount Alvernia student Eliza Ward stood up for her Muslim student counterpart when the ICB student washed her feet in the basin in the girls’ toilet before prayers.
Eliza had to explain to fellow students at her Catholic high school the reasons Muslim washed their feet before prayers.
All the students observed each other’s families and lifestyles over the term from July to September with the project culminating in a camp in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Mr Kadri said some parents also formed friendships despite some initial concerns and said the college embarked on The Swap because of the school’s Islamic beliefs and religiously mandated practices under Islam.
Sonya’s mother Julie, was initially concerned her family might be judged because she had not formally married while parents of some of the Muslim students were worried about being seen to be wearing a niqab, or veil which covers the face.
The families also made time to have dinner together and meet up outside school classes, forging strong friendships despite the Brisbane River north-south divide.
Mr Kadri said future swaps were being planned and he hoped more schools would join in a bid to “break down social barriers that often exist between different communities”.
He said he hoped ICB would remain at the forefront of education and had recently embraced the use of ChatGPT within the high school curriculum, despite the software being black-listed by some universities and state schools.
■ The Swap is set to premiere on SBS on Wednesday, March 8 at 8.30pm
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