Teacher guilty of misconduct after telling pupils Islam was 'true religion'

A former teacher at two Birmingham schools linked to the Trojan Horse scandal has been found guilty of professional misconduct after telling pupils during Friday prayers that Muslims have “the true religion” and Christians and Jews were “ignorant”.

Wakass Haruf was found to have brought the teaching profession into “disrepute” following his “inappropriate” comments, which he made to pupils while delivering a playground sermon during Islamic Friday prayers at Golden Hillock School in Sparkhill in around June 2013.

He could now face a lifetime ban from the classroom following today's ruling.

Mr Haruf is one of 13 teachers from four Birmingham schools linked to the so-called Trojan Horse plot accused of professional misconduct by the National College for Teaching & Leadership.

The alleged plot, detailed in a letter penned by one conspirator to another which is widely thought to be a hoax, involved a group of hardline Muslims attempting to Islamise non-faith schools.

A panel said that while Mr Haruf’s comments to pupils during the sermon were “isolated utterances”, it viewed them “seriously” and that they amounted to professional misconduct as they breached teaching standards that rule teachers should “not undermine British values and should promote tolerance of all faiths”.

Mr Haruf was a maths teacher at the former Park View Academy in Alum Rock from 2010 and was seconded to work at Golden Hillock when it was taken over by Park View Educational Trust in 2012.

The panel cleared him of a number of allegations, including claims he was part of an agreement with like-minded teachers, governors and parents to a allow an undue amount of religious influence on the education of pupils at Park View and Golden Hillock.

During the disciplinary hearing the panel heard Mr Haruf was part of a What’s App messaging group called the Park View Brotherhood, which saw teachers sharing “offensive” views including claims the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby was a hoax.

The panel ruled that, despite Mr Haruf posting an “ill-advised and inappropriate” message about the soldier, his activity in the What’s App group was “limited” and there was no evidence he read all the controversial material posted by other members.

The panel described Mr Haruf as a “credible and truthful” witness, while it also cleared him of allegations that he stopped pupils from playing football to make them pray instead.

Mr Bompas described Mr Haruf as a “hugely enthusiastic” teacher who should have been given more support from senior leaders and took on extra responsibility, such as prayers, when he “should have declined”.

Mr Haruf was also cleared of encouraging pupils to pray at Park View by broadcasting calls to prayer over a tannoy, putting up posters and sending direct reminders to teachers and prefects.

He is set to be sanctioned at a later date by education secretary Nicky Morgan and could be banned from teaching indefinitely.

Park View, which was plunged in to special measures by Ofsted in April 2014 following the emergence of the Trojan Horse allegations, was renamed Rockwood Academy in September and now has a new head teacher and governing body.

Last month Ofsted said it was on the right path to pull itself out of special measures.

Golden Hillock was taken over by another academy chain in September and is now Ark Boulton - It too has a new principal and governing body.