Racist revolt against Al-Taqwa College after positive Covid case

Students at the Islamic school at the centre of Victoria’s latest Covid scare say they are being targeted with racial comments on social media.

Islamic communities in Melbourne’s west are being targeted with vile racial attacks as authorities scramble to suppress a new potential outbreak.

In a Zoom meeting on Thursday afternoon held by Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar, the Department of Health and Al-Taqwa College families, students said they were receiving “racial comments” on social media.

“What do we do regarding that?” one student said.

A mother, who has three children at the school, told the Herald Sun her son had been targeted on social media.

“My son received a very offensive and racist message saying it was our community’s fault that there was another lockdown,” she said.

“We have been tested and our whole family is in isolation. We are doing the right thing.”

The Herald Sun has also seen text messages between community members saying they saw a man who was “remarkably angry” and “spat towards the school”.

A pop-up Covid testing site has been set up at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Health sources within the Covid response effort said they were making desperate efforts to keep the Al-Taqwa community on-side after struggling to win the trust of some members during the 2020 outbreak.

In an effort to appeal to the same community, respected Altona North GP Mukesh Haikerwal was brought in to front Thursday’s press conference with Mr Weimar and Health Minister Martin Foley.

Reassuring all Victorians that Covid could strike anyone, he said: “The population did it really tough (in 2020).

“They way they were treated, they felt they were very badly treated, and that is why many people didn’t get tested. All of that has changed.”

Dr Haikerwal said Hobsons Bay Council and the state government had wrapped services around the community to better support the western suburbs through the latest testing and isolation requirements.

Premier Daniel Andrews said: “There is a fine balance struck between holding people accountable for actions we can’t change … and essentially building in a disincentive for people going and getting tested. If people are fearful that they will be held accountable, fined ... they perhaps won’t come forward and get tested.”

A graphic of the latest cases in Victoria.

One million Victorian school students are being plunged into their sixth lockdown, sparking fears for VCE students just weeks from starting exams. More than 200,000 students have lost up to 25 weeks of face-to-face learning since the start of the pandemic.

Concerns are mounting over the effects of the disruption on the studies of 50,000 VCE students who are due to sit their GAT on August 12.

An extension of the lockdown could mean the General Aptitude Test is moved yet again, causing further chaos and worry for the students who have had both years of their VCE and VCAL disrupted by bouts of home schooling.

Al-Taqwa students say they have been receiving “racial comments” on social media. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

VCE exams are due to start on October 29.

Education Minister James Merlino said: “We all wish we didn’t have to be back here – but our students, teachers and staff, parents, carers and school communities have done a remarkable job transitioning to remote learning throughout this pandemic, and we know they’ll tackle the next week with the same courage and positivity.”