On Monday 22nd March 2021 an RE teacher at Batley Grammar School showed students a cartoon from the notorious Charlie Hebdo magazine against the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

As a teacher of RE he would have known that any attempted depiction of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him is unacceptable to Muslims and that love and honour of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him is a fundamental part of Islamic Belief. No doubt as a teacher of RE he would have been familiar with the immense harm caused to Muslims worldwide by the Charlie Hebdo publication. This action of his has caused immense pain to Muslims not only in Batley or the UK alone but across the globe.

We understand an official apology has been made by Batley Grammar school but believe that actions not only breach professional standards but show a blatant disregard for the sentiments of Muslims. To make matters worse he even explicitly expressed his knowledge of the unacceptable nature of his action to Muslims just prior to showing the image stating that there would be an image of the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him in the lesson that many in this class will find offensive. He has shown no remorse for his actions nor apologised for hurting over 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.

In light of this we believe the governing body should remove him from his position as a teacher in the school. This will be something towards repairing the terrible damage that he has done to community cohesion.