Refugee advocate Jamal Daoud discovered his child was participating in the prayer group run by a Muslim leader at a western Sydney high school without his knowledge in late 2022.
Jamal Daoud was taken aback to discover that his child was attending a prayer group in a secular school without his consent.Dean Sewell
It came seven years after NSW Department of Education launched a statewide audit of the prayer groups over allegations some were being used to radicalise students and found several schools were not complying with the requirement to seek parental permission.
Daoud feared the failure of the department to ensure its own rules were being followed showed the threat of the radicalisation of young people was not being taken seriously enough in the wake of this week’s stabbing attack by a teenager at Wakeley.
Authorities have designated the 16-year-old’s alleged attack on Christian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel as a terrorist incident,with police saying the accused had made comments “around religion” in the lead-up to the violence. The teenager’s lawyer told the court on Friday his family had advised he had a long history of behaviour consistent with suffering from a mental illness dating back to when he was a young child.
Daoud said that he pulled his child out of their public high school after he discovered “by accident” they were partaking in the prayer group,and complained to then-education minister Sarah Mitchell.
He flagged concerns about the content of the sessions.
“If I want my child to be religious,I will send them to the religious school,” Daoud said. “I want them to get a mainstream secular education,not religious.”
The NSW Education Department said it assessed Daoud’s complaint and tightened its processes around parental consent for prayer groups to ensure they followed departmental policies.
“The content of the prayer group and special religious education classes were assessed by the department and was found not to be contentious,” a NSW Education Department spokesperson said.
“The prayer group was and still is monitored by four school staff.”
Public schools can choose to allow prayer groups as a voluntary religious activity with approval by the principal,and are run separately to special religious education.
In March 2015,the Department of Education issued new guidelines for schools stating the content of school prayer groups must be monitored and principals must obtain parental permission before students could participate.
Outside Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley on Tuesday,the morning after Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed.Oscar Colman
Then-premier Mike Baird launched a statewide audit of the prayer groups in July that year,following allegations an Epping Boys High student was attempting to radicalise other students with extremist interpretations of Islam during a lunchtime session.
At the time it was also reported Farhad Jabar,a year 10 student from another school,who murdered NSW police employee Curtis Cheng,regularly attended the lunchtime prayer sessions.
The audit revealed some schools were failing to obtain parental permission for students’ participation in the groups. This masthead revealed that Marsden High School,Bass Hill High School and Casula High School belatedly sent home permission slips after the audit began.
In late 2015 a NSW Education Department deputy secretary,Gregory Prior,sent a memo to schools asking them to take immediate action to ensure that these procedures were fully implemented.
In 2018,the father of a former Parramatta High School student who was jailed for travelling to Syria to fight for an Islamist rebel group also raised concerns about the operation of the prayer groups.
Guven Biber told the court he chose to send his son Mehmet Biber to a public school because he thought it would be “totally secular” but found it was a “religious hothouse” where his son was exposed to fundamentalist beliefs while attending prayer groups.
The NSW Education Department rejected Biber’s allegations at the time as “unfounded and unsubstantiated”,according to reports at the time.
One Sydney principal,who is not authorised to speak publicly,said a variety of prayer groups are offered at their school to “meet the needs of the community”.
“We always obtain parental consent and either myself or one of my deputies supervises the group,” the principal said.
In November 2022,Daoud complained to minister Mitchell’s office after he was not informed of his child’s involvement in a prayer group at his school.
An official wrote back to him on behalf of the minister,noting the department had reviewed procedures,and required the school ensure content of the activities be monitored,all students have parental permission,and that an attendance register is maintained.
After the fatal shooting of Cheng in 2015,the NSW government launched a $47 million program to counter violent extremism,which included a schools initiative.
The program,School Communities Working Together,has since been superseded by another designed to support students including those who are vulnerable and at risk,focusing on wellbeing,attendance and behaviour.
“We care deeply for our students and have processes in place to support vulnerable students,including working closely with external agencies such as NSW Police,Department of Communities and Justice as well as community groups,” a NSW Education Department spokesperson said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights..