Misgivings and rumours about the North Dublin Muslim School - slammed in last week’s Department of Education evaluation - have been doing the rounds in education circles for years. So why, asks CATHERINE REILLY, has it taken the department so long to act?
WHEN Metro Éireann exclusively revealed some strange goings-on at the North Dublin Muslim School four years ago, its chairperson Shahzad Ahmed was not a happy man. Allegations of Islamophobia were hurled, as were threats of legal action.
That article had quoted an undisclosed senior political source – and current Govern-ment minister – as admitting that Department of Education inspectors were “concerned” about the school’s management of finances. The source was irritable and wanted to finish the conversation quickly.
Also quoted was one Ahmed Hassan, who said he sat on the school’s board of management but did not know the full name of “Mohammed”, its treasurer. “We don’t get time to introduce ourselves or know each other very well,” he had explained. An unqualified principal had been at the helm for four years, and teachers were “coming and going”.
At the time, the school’s patron Imam Yahya Al-Hussein was not contactable, believed to be on a break in his native Sudan.
Certainly, no reading between the lines was necessary to know that all was not well at the Cabra-based school, and other newspapers followed up on the August 2005 story. Education sources dissuaded many journalists, either deliberately or through lack of knowledge, but the story went mainstream when the Irish Independent’s education editor John Walshe gathered sufficient evidence to press ahead.
But the public furore came and went, if not the school’s difficulties. Approximately one year later, a well-placed education source informed Metro Éireann that the school’s problems had not receded.
Its young principal was resigning, and Muslim kids in the neighbouring Educate Together school were being bullied by some at the all-Muslim school for being “not as Muslim”.
Odd behaviour on a bus carrying some of the North Dublin Muslim School pupils was also being noted.
By late 2007, Metro Éireann understands that the school was the subject of a serious complaint from a parent, who expressed fears that some male pupils were regularly using Islam to ‘justify’ aggressive behaviour.
In the letter seen by Metro Éireann, the parent put her concerns on the record by stating that she was informed at the school that “physical violence is a big problem especially amongst the boys in the school and that their behaviour is defended by their belief that their religion condones violence and that nobody can do anything to them.” It is understood that this letter was also sent to the Department of Education.
Metro Éireann also understands that, prior to our August 2005 article, a Department of Education inspector was allegedly threatened by someone connected with the North Dublin Muslim School when he attempted to delve into its problems. The inspector, who we will not name, refused to confirm or deny the allegation to this newspaper (and would no doubt be professionally bound not to comment).
Amid this disturbing array of evidence, by far the strangest aspect has been the department’s ‘walking on eggshells’ approach.
Last week, a chunk of truth came out through the release of its Whole School Evaluation – an appraisal that all schools must undergo, but which surely should have been prioritised sooner for the North Dublin Muslim School.
The evaluation was damning, citing:
- little evidence that Depart-ment grants have been spent appropriately;
- inconsistent class attendance records;
- significant absenteeism;
- continual turnover of staff in the school, with the mainstream teaching staff resigning in June 2008;
- no member of the current teaching staff having completed their probationary period;
- significant weaknesses in the board’s implementation of statutory requirements;
- no accounts of the school’s finances being available;
- corridors and classrooms being dark and school sanitary facilities inadequate;
- neither parents’ representatives on the board of management nor representatives of the parents’ associations attending any of the scheduled meetings with the department’s evaluation team; and
- the school’s anti-bullying policy being unavailable to department inspectors.
Now the search for answers has begun.
The failures at the North Dublin Muslim School are inextricably linked to inspection system errors, believes Brian Hayes, Fine Gael’s education spokesman.
Hayes says that the Whole School Evaluations (WSE) system is “at the heart of the problem”, with inspections being “incredibly time-consuming” and only taking place in a school, at most, every five to six years.
“In fact, in many areas across the country, inspections will only take place once a decade,” he adds.
“The inspection system does not work and the North Dublin Muslim School is the prime example of its failures,” continues the TD. “The Department of Education has been aware of problems at the school since 2004 but it is only now that the inspection report is being delivered. This report is indeed the most damning ever but we should not have had to wait five years for action to be taken.”
Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has stated that the Whole School Evaluation was conducted because of “ongoing concerns about the school that had been identified by department inspectors”.
“Arising from the report, the Minister has made clear his concern in particular in relation to the standards of teaching and learning, inadequacies in relation to child protection policies and that the general management of the school to this point was unacceptable,” said a spokesperson.
“The WSE process involves feedback by the inspectors to the school before the report is finalised and, in addition, given the seriousness of the weaknesses evident in the school, officials of the department met the patron of the school and the chairperson of the board to emphasise the need for timely action on their part to ensure improvement in the operation of the school.”
The school representatives have reported to the department that a number of “positive immediate steps” have been taken to address shortcomings, including putting in place an effective child protection policy and providing the department with an account of expenditure since it took office in January 2008, “and confirming that it’s pursuing the accounts for the period prior to that date”
But neither opposition TDs nor the minister himself seem to have zoned in on the most pertinent remaining questions: why was the situation allowed to fester, and what happened to the public money that inspectors saw no tangible evidence of having been spent on the school?
Action being taken - patron
According to the Islamic Foundation of Ireland (IFI) – the North Dublin Muslim School’s patronage body – several actions have been taken since the department’s Whole School Evaluation report was released.
In a statement, the IFI said these include initiating a child protection policy, and the development of curricular plans for maths, music and Irish.
It noted that in December 2007 a new board of management was formed and “has been working to improve the conditions which it had inherited from the previous management”.
“On the issue of school accounts, a summary accounts covering the period from January 2008 to present day has been prepared and forwarded to the Department of Education and Science,” continued the statement. “...The board has discussed with the Department of Education the repayment of money owed, and is willing to schedule payment,” it added.
The statement concluded that “certain measures” have been taken to improve the current accommodation and that the board is “in discussion with the school parents over the possibility of relocating the school to another site”.
