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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Teacher calls Muslim student 'terrorist'
JENNIFER MACEY: Since last year's Cronulla riots, the New South
Wales Anti-Discrimination board has been inundated by calls from
Muslim Australians.
One of those calls came from a grade 11 student at Blakehurst
High School in Sydney's south-east, who lodged a complaint
against his legal studies teacher for calling him a terrorist.
Wagih Zac Fares says he's still hurt by the comment made in
front of his classmates.
WAGIH ZAC FARES: I put my bag on the table, looking for a chair
to sit at. I asked the girl next to that chair if the chair was
free and her reply was yes. I sat down next to her, and on that
table was her magazine, and I began flicking through it.
Mr Seymour then approached me, and said give me the magazine, in
that aggressive tone right from the beginning. I said sir,
please can I just put the magazine back in her bag?
He said no, you've come into my classroom, you've moved desks,
and that's when he outburst (sic), said no, I don't want to
negotiate with a terrorist.
When he said that it hit me, and I was shocked, I was
embarrassed, I was just humiliated. And everyone stopped
talking, all conversations dropped and looked at me.
Emotions were building up. That's when I banged the table and
said sir, that's wrong. And unable to control my emotions, I
began screaming out, I'm not a terrorist. How can you call me a
terrorist?
I ran out of the classroom, punching walls, screaming I'm not a
terrorist, how can you call me a terrorist?
JENNIFER MACEY: Wagih Fares says he ran from the classroom and
was followed by his teacher, who apologised. When he returned to
the school he picked up tables and threw them.
He says he hasn't been able to return to his legal studies class
and now wants the teacher transferred to another school.
WAGIH FARES: I cannot continue my education and to achieve my
personal goals and go on to uni with this teacher there now.
The Department did take a while to come out with a result, and
the result was that I had to either move schools, drop the
subject, or do in-school tutoring, where I have to do... make
the decisions, where I've done nothing wrong. It should be the
teacher that must make the decision.
JENNIFER MACEY: The State's Education Department has
investigated the incident and disciplined the teacher. The
investigation found that the teacher hadn't intended to
embarrass or humiliate the student.
The Department's Regional Director Dr Phil Lambert says the
teacher is truly sorry.
>From National Nine News
A year on from the Cronulla riots, it's words, not actions, that
are causing pain.
Blakehurst High student Wagih Fares was called a terrorist by
his legal studies teacher.
The conflict today is whether an apology and counselling is
punishment enough.
I met Wagih, his parents and brothers and sisters at their
Brighton Le Sands home this morning. They offered coffee to
reporters and unwavering support for Wagih's stand.
"It's painful," Wagih said. "It's more than words."
There's no doubt that for this Lebanese Muslim family the
teacher's words caused deep wounds.
"We are Australians. My children were born in Australia,"
Wagih's mother said.
Wagih claims that in June he was told in a "loud and very
aggressive voice" by legal studies teacher, Michael Seymour, to
hand over a magazine.
When he refused the teacher responded: "I don't want to
negotiate with a terrorist."
The Department of Education's regional director of schools Phil
Lambert said today the teacher had admitted his mistake and
apologised.
"In the heat of the moment he said those words and he regrets
having said them."
...
"He was there to have a go at me," replied Wagih. "I don't know
why. Maybe because I'm Lebanese."
The Fares family want the teacher fired or transferred so that
Wagih can return to his legal studies class. The Education
Department believes the teacher has learned his lesson the hard
way.
An Anti Discrimination Board investigation will make the final
call on whether the teachers remorseful actions are punishment
enough for his painful words.
>From AAP
"I've done nothing wrong and to be called that word it's
painful. It is painful, that's a good word to describe it,
disgusted, it's still hitting me now, it still gets me now,"
Wagih said on Channel 10.
source:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=18707
===
-muslim voice-
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