Punchbowl Boys High sacking: Almost 20 Sydney schools identified as ‘at risk’ of radicalisation
STUDENTS at 19 NSW schools have been identified as being “at risk” of radicalisation, with fearful parents warning kids have been “pressured” into daily prayer meetings and Koranic lectures.
NSW
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ANGRY parents say their kids felt “pressured” into daily prayer meetings, Koranic lectures and even cutting their hair by other Muslim Punchbowl Boys High School students, as it can be revealed almost 20 NSW schools have been identified as “at risk” of radicalising Islamic children.
The list of 19 schools — all of which are understood to be located in Western and southwestern Sydney — have been identified for the state government’s in-school counter-extremism program, which was rejected by the now-removed Punchbowl principal Chris Griffiths last year, who converted to Islam in 2014.
A source told The Daily Telegraph Granville Boys High School and Granville South High School had both implemented the program last July.
Canterbury Boys High School is also understood to have participated in the program, called School CommunitiesWorking Together.
It comes as the parents of a Year 7 Punchbowl student voiced their anger at the school being run more like “a mosque” than a public school.
The worried parents, who The Daily Telegraph has decided not to name for their son’s safety, said their boy had felt pressured by other boys and made fun of for not conforming to the Sunni denomination — which they said makes up the majority of the school and community.
They said their son had been bullied for having long hair and badgered by his peers for not joining in prayers.
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“The kids come up to my son and ask him ‘come and pray, come and pray’. But we do different things to other families and the school. Why does prayer have to be in school time?” the boy’s mother said.
“Why are they letting kids go on like this about religion? My kid has long hair but some kids told him that it was going against their religion. He goes to school to learn, it’s not a mosque. Religion is for the home, not for the school.”
She said she felt anger towards the school because she had deliberately sent her son to a “public school” not to a religious school and he was now feeling “scared”.
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“My son tells me there are lectures at the school. My son hasn’t been to them because I told him not to go.
“I’m angry because it’s a public school. Why should my kid go to school feeling scared? He’s only in Year 7.
“My son feels obliged to follow rules that he isn’t meant to about religion. I would have sent him to a private school if I wanted him to pray at school, I would have sent him to a private religious school.”
Her husband said: “I don’t like the old principal because this is a school, it’s not a mosque. I am Muslim but my son is coming here to read and write, he’s not coming here for religion, and that’s what it was like. I don’t need problems for my son. The new principal is welcomed and I think he’s perfect.”
Despite these concerns, Mr Griffiths last year refused to allow a “specialist support team” into the school under the counter-extremism program because he did not feel comfortable with prayer groups being monitored or the school being “stigmatised”.
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The Daily Telegraph has obtained a copy of the state-government funded programs “management guidelines” which says a team of experts, including psychologists, IT specialists and support workers, can go into a school to play a “proactive role” and conduct an “environmental scan” for anything of concern.
“It’s a team that goes into schools — high-risk schools in terms of radicalisation — and does a whole raft of activities and a whole raft of assessments,” an education expert said yesterday.
“I would be loath to criticise the program for what it is trying to do. The issue is only the impact around what it has at the school level.”
The source said the team’s role was broad but examples involved looking at prayer groups and how the school monitors them, as well as which religious providers are coming into the school and how they are supervised.
The Punchbowl community has been shocked by Mr Griffiths and deputy Joumana Dennaoui’s sudden removal and yesterday it emerged that new principal Robert Patruno had been threatened by two unidentified men at the school.
One of the men, both of whom were said to be of Middle Eastern appearance, told him in front of teachers: “We’re going to get you, we’re going to f ... you up, you dog!”
Mr Patruno briefed police over the incident but did not make a formal complaint.
The majority of members of the school’s mostly Muslim community have voiced support for Mr Griffiths and have started a petition against his and Ms Dennaoui’s dismissal. The petition had received 1650 signatures by last night.
Mother-of-five Rana Dergham has two boys at the school and said they were robbed of a farewell for Mr Griffiths. “The boys are upset and we are upset because ... the boys and the deputy didn’t have closure through a farewell,” she said.
‘Why I axed Punchbowl principal’
EDUCATION Department Secretary Mark Scott says he first considered sacking the then Punchbowl Boys High head Chris Griffiths last year, after the Muslim convert became the first principal to refuse to allow a deradicalisation program to enter a school.
Mr Scott said the department attempted to talk to Mr Griffiths, but after he resisted overtures to include the School Communities Working Together program it conducted an appraisal of the school that led to Mr Griffiths and his deputy Joumana Dennaoui being removed from their jobs.
Mr Scott said more investigations had been launched into claims of students threatening to behead teachers, of a student assaulting a teacher, and of Mr Griffiths telling students how to deal with “pigs”, in reference to police, by filming their interactions on mobile phones.
He said the decision to put the deradicalisation program in the school was made after a large staff turnover of more than 20 in a year and reports the school was not being welcoming to police.
“We received word of mouth ... there were staff concerns of the direction of leadership,” he said. “There were reports (that) the school was becoming more isolationist.”
The Daily Telegraph understands one female teacher contacted former principal Jihad Dib late last year and raised concerns that women were not being allowed to present certificates at an awards ceremony at the school.
Mr Scott refused to name the “more than 15” schools participating in the deradicalisation program, except to say they were all high schools in Western and southwestern Sydney.
— ANDREW CLENNELL
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