Teachers 'beat children' during religious lessons

A ROCHDALE parent claims his son underwent punishment ‘like a torture’ during Muslim religious lessons.

The father, who does not want to be named, says the teacher allowed another child to film the abuse on his mobile phone.
The revelation follows the publication of comments by Rochdale Imam, Iran Chishti, who suggested physical abuse takes place in religious schools – or madrassas – in Rochdale and across the country.

Imam Chishti, who spoke in The Times, runs the Light of Islam Academy in Milkstone Road. The Observer was unable to contact him at the time of going to press.
The parent who spoke to the Observer said his son, who was aged four at the time, was removed from the lessons as soon as he found out.
He said: "The teacher put him in the middle of the room and the others are all doing their prayers. The film shows the teacher questioning him and shouting at him and he’s crying."
The boy was then hit repeatedly on the soles of his feet with a slipper.
When the parent confronted the teacher they denied committing the abuse, which he believes ‘happens all over’.

Hafiz Abdul Malik, a spokesman for Central Mosque, said mosques where madrassas were held were working to educate teachers. He said physical punishments were largely a thing of the past and may have occurred around 10 or 15 years ago.
He said: "All the tutors are quite familiar with the rules and regulations.
"Some of the problems that might exist could be with people running education facilities from home.

"The established institutes follow the guidelines and have certain child protection policies."
A joint statement by the Rochdale Public Protection Investigation Unit and the safeguarding board from Rochdale Council says some allegations of abuse made by children have been investigated.
It says: "On occasions investigations have been made jointly with the police and children’s social care.

"These inquiries fall within the scope of Rochdale’s child protection procedures.
"Parents are always informed, advice given and their views are sought."
Terry Piggott, education director at Rochdale Council, said because of the rapid turnover of volunteer teachers at madrassas it makes the classes difficult to regulate.
He added: "We are working closely with a number of faith groups, including madrassas, to provide training on child protection, including highlighting what is and is not acceptable."
Six sessions have been held this year with mosque leaders and employees and more are planned.
The council was keen to stress that the issue was not solely a Rochdale concern and that a lot of positive work was being done with mosques.

Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation said such incidents may have once been commonplace, but were now in ‘isolated pockets’.

Corporal punishment was banned in state schools in 1986.