Books at private Islamic school promoted extremism

Ofsted has rated a private Islamic school in Birmingham "inadequate" after books that supported extremist views were found in its library.

The Jamia Islamia Birmingham had in its library books that supported the Islamic State, and others containing "misogynistic messages."

On the front page of one book were the words “Don’t make the Jews and the Christians your friends.”

In another book, Ofsted inspectors found a series of aims that included “To help the Taliban government in the accomplishment of enforcement of Shari’ah in Afghanistan” and “To struggle for the creation of Islamic states in which the Islamic canons will enforced practically.”

The Ofsted report said that the books “are actively undermining fundamental British values and are not compliant with the Equality Act 2010”, and noted that the literature was easily available to students attending the school.

In 2017, Ofsted had given the school a 'requires improvement' rating.

School authorities said they were not aware of the books.

In a statement to the Times Education Supplement, the school said the books have been removed immediately. They said the books could have been donated to the school 18 years ago.

Other failings of the school, according to Ofsted, was a lack of provision for children with special needs, and a "poorly designed" curriculum. The school also had an open exit gate that allowed "unsupervised access to and from the general public."