‘Educate Against Hate’ website set up to fight extremism
A new website giving parents and teachers advice on protecting children from extremism is being launched by the government as it seeks to combat “the spell of twisted ideologies”.
The website, Educate Against Hate, is one of several measures the government is pursuing to counter Islamist extremism.
There will be an escalation of Ofsted’s investigations into unregistered, illegal schools, tougher action to prosecute these schools, and a consultation on registering children who go missing from school.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is announcing the measures at Bethnal Green Academy, the east London school attended by three girls – Shamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase – who left Britain for Syria last year and were last heardof in Islamic State-controlled Raqqa.
Educate Against Hate will offer advice based on resources and guidance drawn up by the government and charities including the NSPCC and Childnet.
‘Grasp of extremists’
Mrs Morgan said: “Today’s announcement of resources and tougher powers to protect young, impressionable minds from radical views sends a clear message to extremists – our children are firmly out of your reach.
“Educate Against Hate will provide teachers and parents with the expertise they need to challenge radical views and keep their children safe. Our tougher stand against illegal schools will help prevent children from falling under the grasp of extremists.
“And by improving intelligence on where children go when they deregister from schools, we will help prevent future incidents of young, promising children falling under the spell of twisted ideologies.”
‘Misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic’
Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said it was important that children were kept safe, but she added that “warm words from ministers now mean very little, after they failed to take swift action to close illegal schools, where children were being exposed to narrow curriculums, misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic material”.
Last month, it was revealed that schools are be told to set filters and monitor pupils’ internet access, amid growing concerns that some youngsters are at risk of being targeted by extremist groups.
Lawyer Tasnime Akunjee, who represents the families of the three girls who travelled to Syria, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They are in Raqqa, or were there certainly up until a few weeks ago.
“Contact has been lost with them for some weeks now, so to be honest we have no idea what their status is at the moment.”
Commenting on the govenment’s anti-extremism strategy, Mr Akunjee said: “I would agree that something needs to be done, surely. The difficulty is in trusting in a system that has continued to produce, frankly, no results, and indeed attract criticism from pretty much every source there possibly could be.”
