Teacher suspended over use of Charlie Hebdo cartoons

The headteacher of a school in West Yorkshire has apologised to parents after a teacher displayed satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. The teacher has been suspended pending a formal investigation.

Gary Kibble, the head of Batley grammar school, apologised to parents for the inappropriate use of the cartoons, taken from the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, during a religious studies lesson this week which sparked a protest outside the school on Thursday morning.

“Upon investigation, it was clear that the resource used in the lesson was completely inappropriate and had the capacity to cause great offence to members of our school community for which we would like to offer a sincere and full apology,” Kibble said in an email sent to parents that promised further investigation.

Images on social media showed about 30 to 40 protesters, many wearing masks, outside the school, with police at the entrances to the school grounds and the road outside. The Huddersfield Examiner reported from the school that the protests were peaceful as children arrived, with the start of the school day delayed until 10am. West Yorkshire police said that no fines or arrests were made.

However, the Department for Education spokesperson condemned the protests which it said included issuing threats and was “in violation of coronavirus restrictions”. A spokesperson described the protest as “completely unacceptable”.

The DfE spokesperson added: “Schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas and materials in their curriculum, including where they are challenging or controversial, subject to their obligations to ensure political balance. They must balance this with the need to promote respect and tolerance between people of different faiths and beliefs, including in deciding which materials to use in the classroom.”

Kibble told parents: “The school is investigating the matter using formal processes and we are grateful for the support of the local authority.”

The academy school, an all-through comprehensive – despite its name – has more than 900 pupils. As an academy it is outside direct local authority control but Carole Pattison, Kirklees council’s cabinet member for learning and communities, praised the school’s “swift action”. She said: “They have apologised, taken immediate action on teaching materials and they are reviewing the relevant processes.”

Kibble said the school has removed the images and course content, and will undertake a review of its religious studies course to ensure no other inappropriate resources were used.

The protests were organised on social media amid calls for the teacher’s suspension or resignation after showing the cartoons to pupils. In 2015 the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris were attacked by two men who claimed affiliation to al-Qaida and murdered 12 people, including staff cartoonists and two policemen. The newspaper’s offices had been previously firebombed after its depictions of Muhammad.

Footage on social media showed police reading out the head’s apology statement to the protesters that remained. The school later confirmed that the member of staff had been suspended.

In an updated statement, it said: “The school unequivocally apologises for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent religious studies lesson. The member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies.

“We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities represented in our school.”

Mufti Mohammed Amin Pandor, one of the community leaders who met the school’s leadership, told protesters that the school understood that what happened was “totally unacceptable”.

“We’ve asked for an investigation, an independent investigation, and we have asked also for some of us to get on the investigation’s panel,” Pandor told the remaining protesters. “That is what we’ve asked for, whether they do it or not, we can’t force them.

“We’re going to work with the school to ensure that in the future things like this don’t happen.”

Qari Asim, chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board and imam of the Makkah mosque in Leeds, said: “People have a right to express their concerns and hurt but protests can’t always achieve what can be achieved through constructive dialogue. Fair investigation by the school, in consultation with the parents, should be allowed to take place. We do not want to fan the flames of Islamophobia and provoke hatred or division.”