Australia’s leading Islamic schools are in the midst of a leadership crisis, with school principal sackings, accusations of mismanagement of taxpayer funds, slipping standards and concerns they are becoming more hardline.
Parents have protested about what they say is poor management by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), the group that runs the schools.
The schools receive up to $40 million a year in federal and state government annual and building funding.
A key concern is the sacking at many campuses of principals who have been replaced in some cases by appointees parents feel have insufficient teaching qualifications or experience.
Some states in Australia require principals be qualified teachers, but rules vary.
It is the students who lose out, with previously prestigious colleges falling in Year 12 rankings and NAPLAN.
Principals also play a key role in the ethos of the school and there are concerns that without proper leadership the broad-base schools could move in the wrong direction.
Mubarak Noor, who was sacked from the Brisbane College after more than a decade, said he was also concerned AFIC schools were bringing in newly-arrived Islamic studies teachers who sometimes had extreme views of Islam.
“We have been asked to take staff at whims and fancies without any due processes, without any background check or criminal check,” Dr Noor said.
“They are not fully trained to teach and they don’t have good command of the language.”
In response, the school said it only advertised overseas when local options had been exhausted, and there had been no evidence of extreme views.
Bans on male, female students mixing in corridors
The new principal of the Islamic College of South Australia said the school’s major focus was going to be the improvement of the Islamic curriculum.
Students report that at the high school, where boys and girls have long been loosely segregated, there are now bans on boys and girls sharing corridors and members of the opposite sex who speak to each other are sternly chastised.
There have been parent and student protests, with a student who was involved in a protest about the sacking of a much-loved teacher expelled by text message.
Rami Saaid said he was accused of being the instigator of the protest when he tried to organise students and make it peaceful.
“There was a lot of students running amok, knocking over bins, standing on the outside furniture and it was just chaos,” he said.
“I couldn’t bear to think this was a protest. In my mind, I was thinking that this is a riot.
“I’m being removed for a simple freedom of expression — it’s really tearing me apart.”
The school did not respond to the ABC’s inquiries.
The Islamic College of Melbourne’s new principal has threatened to send late students home if they arrive after 9:00am because they will miss morning assembly, which includes practices of Dua and Koran recitation.
In New South Wales, representatives for the school Malek Fahd are due back in court next week over claims it misused $9 million in taxpayers money.
The State Government is taking the school to court to get its money back, but the college disputes the claim it breached rules about operating for profit in sending money back to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
The school’s former principal Ray Barrett said it was important to note the State Government had since recommenced its funding to the school.
Like other AFIC schools, Malek Fahd has had high turnover of principals, and is now up to its fifth principal in three years.
Parents hope to see board change
The Islamic schools were created to help students who come from backgrounds where English is a second language.
There was also a desire to boost academic performance in the Islamic community.
Parents are hoping to see management change when the AFIC board elections are held on May 16.
Otherwise, they are calling for state and federal authorities to intervene, given the schools’ reliance on taxpayer funds and continued questions over the use of funding.
The former Labor federal government conducted an audit into the schools that was critical of financial record keeping.
There are particular concerns about AFIC leaders acting as chairman of schools boards which is in contrast to auditors’ advice.
The schools concerned said the AFIC leader was sitting in as acting chairman in those cases.
It comes as demand for Islamic education continues to grow in Australian cities.
AFIC has been plagued by instability for a decade, as factions representing Fijian-Indian, Pakistani and Lebanese Muslims wrestle for control of the organisation, with each side launching claims and counter-claims.
The AFIC did not respond to the ABC’s inquiries.