UK Pupils Taught to Be Suicide Bombers

"Whoever thought this up has no understanding of the communities where we are fighting against extremist beliefs," Mahmood said. (Google)

"I can't see why anyone would think it is a valuable exercise to encourage children to put themselves in the position of men who treated people in such an inhuman way," Jacqui Putnam, a 7/7 attacks survivor, told the Daily Telegraph on Friday, February 20.

"To encourage children to see the world in that way is a dangerous thing. Surely there must be a better way of achieving their objective?"

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has introduced a teaching package on the 7/7 2005 terrorist attacks as a way to counter extremism.

It asks pupils to prepare a presentation about the attacks, which claimed the lives of 52 people.

The pupils are asked to summarize the bombers' motives and even suggest some more.

"How useful is it to pretend to be a suicide bomber if it defeats the object of the lesson?" asks Patrick Mercer, the chairman of the Commons terrorism sub-committee.

"Imagine the uproar if we suggested that children play-acted the role of Hitler."

Khalid Mahmood, Muslim Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, also blasted the teaching package.

"(The pack risked) encouraging the sort of belief we're trying to work against," 

"They should be looking at it from the victims' view.

"Whoever thought this up has no understanding of the communities where we are fighting against extremist beliefs."

Under the mounting criticism, the government withdrew the teaching pack and apologized for relatives of the 7/7 bombings victims.

Defense

But Sail Suleman, the author of the pack, defended the teaching package as an important tool in countering the extremism.

"We're looking at why people become extreme," Suleman told the Times.

"Why do young people go out and do what the bombers did? Was it pressure from individuals they were hanging out with? Hopefully, we'll encourage pupils to stay away from those individuals."

Suleman said the pack aims to help youth discuss issues such as extremism in a controlled environment.

"What the pack will do is create an environment whereby discussions surrounding forms of extremism can take place; people will understand what it is to become a good citizen," he has told the BBC.

Tahir Alam, the education spokesman of the umbrella Muslim Council of Britain, said thinking about bombers' motives may help know the root causes of extremism.

"This isn't any different from any educational tool people use all the time," he said.

"Pupils imagine they're poets and write a poem, or imagine they're living in the 12th century.

"If children are asked what the justification of bombings might be, they might talk about foreign policy or other grievances."