The Muslim boy who sued his teacher because he was speaking about making Spanish ham, has accused the teacher of telling him to go back to HIS country (they have come from Morocco). I don’t really believe that accusation, although the student’s parents have already announced that they are going as far as it’s needed, because they “don’t want this to happen to another Moroccan or Colombian”. The Prosecutor’s office has already said there is no basis in Spanish law for this action. Anyway there are already people supporting the student “because in the end he is just a boy”.
The teacher, José Reyes Fernández, have told to Spanish newspaper ABC.es what he told the Muslim student: “Firstly, you are not qualified to tell me what I can and I can not talk about in class. Secondly, I do not care about what you eat, or this other one eats at all. Thirdly, the religion you believe in, or is professed by any of the other children, is still less important to me. Fourthly, there are 30 students here, and you must adapt to the 29 remaining, not the other way round. And fifthly, if you do not agree with the teachings and knowledge taught in this center, you always have the choice to walk away to another school. I never said, as claimed by the family, that he had to leave to another country”. He adds: “I just put an example in a context that seemed appropriate, as if speaking of Toledo, I would have thought that their marzipan has a reputation and a student had warned me not to talk about it because he is diabetic”.
The Andalusian Community has supported the teacher, while the Muslim community has said this is “nonsense”. I would say this is something grave, as this student is trying to curtail his teacher’s academic freedom.
Lastly, the Andalusian Teachers’ Association representative, Gonzalo Guijarro, has blamed “multiculturalism” for this “absolute folly”. He adds: “multiculturalism (…) holds that all cultures have equal right to develop public space in a democratic country… This (action against the teacher) has no sense or reason. One thing is that everyone is entitled to follow the precepts of their religion in private and quite another to try to make them prevail in the public sphere. This goes against the most elementary principles of a democratic society”.