Yesterday I read the story about British teacher Juhel Miah, thrown off a plane to the USA for no good reason.  See here

I doubt that will ever happen to me. Or to my children. It’s not good enough to just tut, sigh loudly and indulge in some anti Trump humour. There are Muslim children and teachers who are scared and uncomfortable. It is time we did more than sign a petition .

I have no further knowledge of the case than what is in the media but I have decided to do something – tiny, I know, but something nevertheless.

1. I have written a letter to Justice Greening. Please read and if you agree please consider adding your name to it.
2. I am going to collect e-messages of solidarity for Juhel (see link) to forward to him via his school
3. I am going to send a letter to the Telegraph to try to start a debate about the morals of running school trips to places where staff and students won’t be admitted due to their country of birth or their religion.

If you are a teacher, governor, parent, head, academic or anyone with an interest in education please get involved. Raise this issue at staff meetings, union meetings etc. Equality policies, rights respecting schools etc are not worth the paper that are printed on if we don’t stand squarely with staff and students who are facing appalling discrimination. Have a debate about what your school is going to do to support Muslim staff and children.

I don’t know any more than what is in the newspapers but I do know that if we tolerate this our children most certainly will be next.

Here is the letter I have written:

To the Right Honourable Justine Greening,

We are writing to you in your role as Her Majesty’s principal  Secretary of State for Education.

We are sure that you, like us, are appalled at the disgraceful treatment of British teacher Juhel Miah, who was denied entry to the United States last week seemingly because he is a Muslim.  We feel that it is important for all Muslim teachers and pupils in this country to feel safe and included in school trips. To this end would you make representation to the American government?  Please can you seek reassurance that our Muslim teachers and students will be free to travel to the USA without fear or harassment?

It is important that we condemn this discrimination and offer support to our colleagues, many of whom give up their own holiday so that pupils can have these experiences. Your condemnation, and gesture of support would greatly reassure the teachers, parents and pupils, who are rightly shocked by this incident.

The way Juhel was treated by the US has wider implications for school communities. Should we be planning educational trips if staff are refused entry solely due to their country of birth or choice of religion?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

We are planning to send a message of support to Juhel Miah and to write to a national papers discussing the issues we have raised in this letter.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

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