Homophobic texts in Muslim schools
An investigation by the BBC has found that children in Islamic weekend schools in Britain are being taught the Saudi Arabian school curriculum with textbooks containing extreme homophobic and anti-semitic views.
The books have been distributed to a network of schools with five thousand students across Britain from an office owned by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Bureau in London and teach a hardline interpretation of Islam.
The books, which are produced by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education, state that homosexuals are to be executed but that there is disagreement on whether this should be done by stoning, by burning them to death or by throwing them off cliffs.
They also state non-Muslims will burn in hell and claim that Jews look like pigs and monkeys and are trying to take over the world.
The schools fall outside the jurisdiction of the UK’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills as they are privately funded and run outside of normal school hours.
UK Education Minister Michael Gove responded to the report by saying Saudi Arabia had a right to determine its own curriculum, but that homophobic and anti-semitic views must not be taught in British schools.
