Prayer group audit at NSW schools reveals guidelines not followed

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Prayer group audit at NSW schools reveals guidelines not followed

By Rachel Olding

A state audit of lunchtime prayer groups has exposed failings by some schools to follow departmental guidelines requiring them to seek parental permission.

The audit, announced by Premier Mike Baird in July, also appears to be backfiring in some schools with students being encouraged to conduct their own unregulated playground prayer groups to avoid the new level of government scrutiny.

Epping Boys High School only sent home prayer group permission slips after the state audit began.

Epping Boys High School only sent home prayer group permission slips after the state audit began.

Mr Baird announced in July that all voluntary prayer groups in the state would be audited following revelations that a student at Epping Boys High School may have preached extremist interpretations of Islam during lunchtime sessions.

Since March, the Department of Education's Religious Education Implementation Procedures has stated that voluntary religious activities should be monitored and principals must obtain parental permission before students participate.

However, Fairfax Media is aware of several schools including Marsden High School, Bass Hill High School and Casula High School that only belatedly sent home permission slips after the audit began.

Epping Boys High School, the school at the centre of the counter-terrorism investigation, sent home permission slips on July 22, two days before The Australian published revelations about the police investigation.

Gregory Prior, the Department of Education's Deputy Secretary, Schools Operations and Performance, sent a memo to schools on Wednesday reminding them of their mandatory requirements.

"I ask that you now take immediate action to ensure that these procedures are fully implemented in your school," the memo said, adding that compliance will be checked in the coming months.

Several high school teachers and Muslim community leaders have also signed a petition in protest at the audit and some have encouraged students to pray together in the playground, rather than go to lunchtime groups that are being audited.

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Fairfax Media has been told that a group of students at Bass Hill High School refused to provide permission slips recently and started their own prayers in the playground before a teacher intervened.

As well as the audit, the government also announced in July that principals will be urged to report suspected extremist behaviour to a dedicated hotline and schools will work with the NSW Police to identify radicals.

The announcement led several Muslim community advocates to express concern and deep suspicion that the audit was another intelligence gathering operation.

Fears were further stoked when Marsden High School sent a note to parents on August 8 that incorrectly said all students who attended prayer groups would go onto a federal government register. It was then shared widely on social media.

A Department of Education spokesman said the letter contained incorrect advice and a new one was issued with permission slips.

The spokesman said the audit doesn't require the provision of student names.

However, a petition launched by teacher Reem Allouche and signed by almost 700 people, has accused the government of asking teachers to "spy on children [and] police their communities".

"In the current institutionalised Islamophobic climate, we hold serious concerns and suspicion as to the purpose of such a register, and the potential for such a register to be exploited in the future," the petition said.

"It is not the role of teachers to police their students, nor is it to act as intelligence officers spying on children on behalf of the government."

Some teachers and parents posted messages, saying they were telling their students or children to pray in the playground "rather than have their names enlisted".

Education Minister Adrian Piccoli declined to comment on non-compliance by schools or evidence of students boycotting the audit.

"The audit is continuing and will be considered by Cabinet," he said.

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