Belfast Girls Model School: No Arrests Made While School Allegedly Advises Muslim Pupils 'Not To Return'
New Age Islam News Bureau
5 December 2024
· Afghanistan: UN Urges Taliban Not To Block Women's Medical Training
· Belfast Girls Model School: No Arrests Made While School Allegedly Advises Muslim Pupils 'Not To Return'
· The Heavy Burden Universities Place On California Muslim Women Students
· 3,263 Indian Women Entrepreneurs Benefit From PENN Financing As Of November –Ramanan
· Gritty India Suffer Narrow 30-32 Loss To Iran In Asian Women’s Handball Championship
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/girls-model-school-advises-muslim/d/133927
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Belfast Girls Model School: No arrests made while school allegedly advises Muslim pupils 'not to return'
4 DEC 2024
Police outside Belfast Model School for Girls on Thursday, November 14 (Image: Justin Kernoghan/Belfast Live)
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No arrests have yet been made at a Belfast school following an alleged hate crime assault last month - while the school has reportedly told a number of Muslim pupils not to return "in the interest of their own safety."
The incident in the playground at Belfast Model School for Girls on Tuesday, November 12, was allegedly witnessed by members of staff, with a local MLA saying at the time the incident had caused "huge concern" among the school community.
Police launched an investigation following a number of reports of an assault at the school on Dunowen Gardens just off the Oldpark Road. On November 13, the PSNI confirmed they are now investigating the incident as a "hate crime."
Now, a report from BBC News NI has confirmed that three young Muslim girls at the centre of the racial bullying row have not been back at the school since the alleged incident.
BBC News NI reported that Girls Model advised the children not to return to the school "in the interest of their own safety." The school's board of governors confirmed it is continuing to work with the Education Authority (EA).
In a statement, the board of governors for the school added: “Whilst we cannot discuss individual students, we remain firmly committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and diverse environment where all students are happy, learning, and succeeding.
“We would ask the local community for their support so that we can continue to provide a safe learning environment for our students and staff."
A spokesperson for the EA, which manages and funds the school, confirmed it was “working closely” with the school following the recent incident.
“Staff from a range of services have been and continue to provide specialist advice and support,” they said.
“The priority is to ensure that all pupils feel safe and welcome to attend school so they can continue to learn in an inclusive environment.”
The EA said support provided is from a range of their services including the Addressing Bullying in School Team, the Education Welfare Service’s Restorative Practice Team, the Inter-Cultural Service, and Youth Service.
Following the incident, around 200 parents and concerned residents held a protest outside the school, with some of those in attendance telling Belfast Live they were concerned for pupils safety following alleged numerous "attacks" at the school.
Providing an update on the investigation, police said no arrests have been made in relation to the incident, but that enquiries are continuing. They reissued their appeal for information.
Superintendent Allister Hagan said: “Enquiries are continuing in relation to a number of reports of an assault which occurred at a school in North Belfast on Tuesday 12th November. Officers continue to liaise with key stakeholders in relation to this matter. No arrests have been made in relation to the incident, which is being treated as a hate crime.
"Police would continue to appeal to anyone with any information in relation to this matter, to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 1160 12/11/24. Alternatively, you can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via
Source: belfastlive.co.uk
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-girls-model-school-no-30514313
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Afghanistan: UN urges Taliban not to block women's medical training
04 December, 2024
Women in Afghanistan are becoming increasingly forced out of education under Talban rule [Getty/file photo]
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The UN mission to Afghanistan on Wednesday urged the Taliban government to reconsider a reported plan to ban women from attending medical training institutes, in the latest move to restrict women's education.
A health ministry source and managers from private medical institutes, which offer training in subjects such as midwifery and nursing, told AFP on Tuesday the public health ministry had issued a directive from the Taliban supreme leader to suspend women's attendance.
There has been no official Taliban government confirmation of the ban, but institute employees said they had been given 10 days to hold final exams before women would be barred.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was "extremely concerned" by the reports and urged the Taliban government to "reconsider implementing" the rule.
"If implemented, the reported directive poses further restrictions on women and girls' rights to education and access to healthcare," a statement said.
"Ultimately, it will have a detrimental impact on Afghanistan's healthcare system and on the country's development."
A senior health ministry source told AFP the ban would squeeze an already suffering health sector.
"We are already short of professional medical and para-medical staff and this would result in further shortages," the source said.
The ban would be the latest restriction on women's education since the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Women and girls have been barred from secondary school and university as part of restrictions the UN has dubbed "gender apartheid".
Women students have since flocked to health institutes, which offer courses in a dozen health-related subjects, with some 35,000 enrolled, health ministry sources said.
The European Union on Wednesday also urged the Taliban to "reverse this discriminatory policy", calling it an "an unjustifiable attack on women's access to education".
Amnesty International warned a ban would "have devastating consequences for the health of women in the country that has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world".
The reports drew far-reaching criticism, including from Afghan cricket superstar Rashid Khan.
"Providing education to all is not just a societal responsibility but a moral obligation deeply rooted in our faith and values," Khan wrote in a post on Facebook.
Source: newarab.com
https://www.newarab.com/news/un-urges-afghan-taliban-not-block-womens-medical-training
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The Heavy Burden Universities Place On California Muslim Women Students
December 4th, 2024
Students gather for a demonstration at the Gaza solidarity encampment at George Washington University, on April 27, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Credit: Laura Albast
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Fifi doesn’t take public transportation anymore.
When she used to ride the train, Fifi, a hijabi Muslim woman, would encounter people who screamed at her or refused to sit next to her. So she caught rides with friends or paid for pricey Ubers.
In February, she joined a blockade at the University of California, Berkeley to protest Israel’s invasion of Rafah in Gaza. Hecklers targeted her. She was pushed, yelled at, and even approached by a man with a knife, she told Prism. The man was escorted away by the police, Fifi said, but he was still seen around campus.
These are just some of the recent incidents Fifi has endured as a graduate student in California. She is using a pseudonym for fear of further violence.
“I think people have this perception that Muslim women are weak,” Fifi told Prism. “[It] took a lot of mental and emotional toll, people spitting towards me or calling me a terrorist. People would come and say, ‘I wish you got gang raped.’”
UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof told Prism in an email that if the attacker was not part of the university, “then it is the law enforcement agency and the judicial system that would ‘take action,’ not the university.”
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), since Oct. 7, 2023, there has been a widespread culture of Islamophobia and anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism at major American universities, including Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Michigan.
These universities instigate a culture of gendered Islamophobia by ignoring hate speech, death threats, and threats of sexual violence targeting Muslim women. Students and faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY), UC Berkeley, and George Washington University (GW) described a lack of mental health services for Muslim and Palestinian women, inadequate follow-up on reports of harassment, inadequate prayer spaces for Muslim students, and racist remarks and threats made by the administration—conditions students say have persisted for years.
“I think [UC] Berkeley takes part in this progressive, liberal facade, and I think it gives you this false security that you’re safe,” Fifi said.
Few safe spaces
At CUNY, New York City’s largest public university, Muslim students described a history of disregard for religious accommodations.
In March 2022, student HafeezatBishi began advocating for officials at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism to provide a more suitable space for Muslims to pray. Former Associate Dean Andrew Mendelson emailed Bishi saying the school would make the temporary prayer room less cluttered by “clearing out the extra chairs.” He also suggested that she pray at off-campus locations several blocks away, according to emails reviewed by Prism.
Bishi explained to Mendelson that according to Islam, Muslims pray five times a day and that it was unrealistic to expect students to repeatedly leave and come back to campus between classes.
Before the current prayer room was created in August 2022 due to Bishi’s efforts, Newmark students reported praying under stairwells or having friends stand guard outside of classrooms so they could pray in peace.
Bishi said that as a Muslim with clinical social anxiety and one of the few Black students in her cohort, she felt unwelcome at the university. Still, she felt compelled to advocate.
“No matter how much my anxiety was kind of beating at me … I knew ultimately, if not for my benefit, it would be for the benefit of others,” she said, noting that she still remembers being 10 years old and students calling her hijabi Muslim friends “Osama bin Laden.”
Newmark Journalism School spokesperson Rachel Ramirez told Prism that there have been no recent complaints since the dean created the prayer room.
According to CAIR, until 2022, students at City College New York (CCNY) had to pray in small, cramped spaces like dirty hallways.
“They were putting us in small spaces, unhygienic spaces, loud spaces,” CCNY student Hadeeqa Malik told Prism.
Since women wearing headscarves are often targeted, giving them a safe space to pray is a simple step, said Corey Saylor, the research and advocacy director at CAIR. “I think people instituting such policies will give lip service to ‘we want to protect our students,’” he said.
Universities allowing violence
Muslim students also described a culture at universities that disregarded violent assaults on women, particularly those who wore a hijab or headscarf.
At City College, Malik joined Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and became a student leader protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Malik was doxxed, and photos of her without her hijab were shared online. When a classmate called her a “terrorist supporter” on Reddit, she filed a report with the school’s public safety department, and he deleted his posts.
But the photos of her without a hijab are still online. Malik said she has filed reports to have them taken down, but nothing has happened.
“I just wanna take them down. I feel so violated in every way,” Malik told Prism.
During one protest, Malik and others read the names of children killed by Israel. While campus public safety watched, students carrying Israeli flags heckled them, danced as the names of dead babies were read, and chanted, “Terrorists go home” and “No justice for rapists.”
Wearing a headscarf or hijab is the third most prevalent trigger for anti-Muslim bias, after ethnicity and being considered Muslim, according to a 2018 CAIR report.
Aanya, a GW student who requested not to use her full name, reported four separate incidents to CAIR of students’ hijabs being torn off, including one in which a white man cornered a Muslim woman in a stairwell.
Students at GW also reported having hijabs torn off and being spat on, making them fearful of wearing clothing that identifies them as Muslim. A GW professor has been linked to anti-Muslim think tanks that spread anti-Muslim conspiracy theories abroad.
Aanya said that GW did not take action on the assaults because students did not want to file official reports. But she said the university was using the lack of reports as a “scapegoat” for their inaction.
“George Washington University decries all forms of bias and discrimination based on protected characteristics, including Islamophobia,” GW spokesperson Julia Metjian told Prism. “The university promptly reviews reports received.”
CAIR designated GW, as well as the University of Michigan; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); University of Georgia; and a dozen other colleges, as “institutions of particular concern” for safety threats against anti-genocide protesters.
Those universities have destroyed Islamic religious materials, allowed harassment and assault of Muslim and Arab students by administrators and faculty, and invited the Israeli military during Muslim holidays. GW President Ellen M. Granberg called a student vigil for murdered Palestinians a “celebration of terrorism.”
At UCLA, campus security did not intervene when students protesting the genocide in Gaza were attacked with hammers, knives, and fireworks. The counterprotesters sexually harassed Black women, calling them slaves, and called students jihadists and terrorists. They also asked if the students were “cool with rape” and said, “Hamas would kill you f—,” using a homophobic slur.
Source: prismreports.org
https://prismreports.org/2024/12/04/muslim-women-students-college-campus-gaza/
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3,263 Indian women entrepreneurs benefit from PENN financing as of November - Ramanan
BERNAMA
05-12- 2024
KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 3,263 Indian women entrepreneurs have received financing amounting to RM30.34 million under the Prosperity, Empowerment and A New Normal for Indian Women (PENN) programme to enhance local market access as of November.
Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri R. Ramanan said that under the SPUMI (Indian Community Entrepreneur Development Scheme) Goes Big programme, 77 Indian women entrepreneurs were granted financing totalling RM3.1 million.
“Through the I-BAP (Business Accelerator Programme for Indian Small Business) to improve international market access, SME Corp has approved matching grants of RM1.5 million for 20 Indian community-owned companies, six of which are Indian women entrepreneurs, involving matching grants of RM350,00.
“As of November, 430 entrepreneurs have received approval for financing under BRIEF-i (Bank Rakyat Indian Entrepreneur Financing-i) from Bank Rakyat, amounting to RM38.98 million, including RM8.14 million for 145 Indian women entrepreneurs,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Negara today.
He was responding to a question from Senator Datuk Seri S. VellPaari on the incentives provided by the government to assist micro-entrepreneurs, particularly Indian women, in accessing local and international markets.
To support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in expanding their market access abroad, Ramanan said the SME Corp’s SMEs Export Enhancement Programme is being implemented without any racial restrictions.
“From January to October, 114 entrepreneurs benefited from the programme, with nine receiving grant approvals totalling RM1.29 million. Another 105 participated in training and business clinics to prepare for export opportunities,” he said.
Source: thesun.my
https://thesun.my/malaysia-news/3263-indian-women-entrepreneurs-benefit-from-penn-financing-as-of-november-ramanan-PJ13384821
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Gritty India Suffer Narrow 30-32 Loss To Iran In Asian Women’s Handball Championship
December 4th 2024
Seasoned goalkeeper Nina Shil dished out a heroic defence but India narrowly lost 30-32 to Iran in their second Group B match at the 20th Asian Women’s Handball Championship here on Wednesday.
Drawing from her considerable experience at the top level, Shalini Thakur tip-toed her way past a rigid Iran defence to open the scoring for India with a rousing finish.
Shortly after, Bhawana Sharma, India’s player-of-the-match from their win against Hong Kong, scored from the penalty spot, to give the hosts the start they desired.
The fast opening to the game set the stage for an exciting first half, peppered with gritty challenges and smashing finishes at both ends.
Amid the action, India’s revolving goalkeepers, the seasoned Nina Shil and captain Diksha Kumari, both gold medallists from the SAF Games, thwarted attack after Iranian attack, ensuring that the two teams headed into the break neck-and-neck.
Nina’s robust defence of her goal kept Iran at bay after the restart, providing a steady platform for the Indian attackers to eat into their opponents’ lead.
Shuffling from side to side, and extracting the best use of the pivot players, India opened the Iran backline on several occasions, and took the match down to the wire, before falling to a narrow loss.
India will now look to bounce back when they take on Japan in their final group game of the tournament on Friday.
In the opening match of the day, heavyweights China bounced back from their defeat to Kazakhstan with a resounding 47-10 win over Singapore, with Zhang Pingping claiming the player-of-the-match honours.
Later, Japan continued their positive start to the tournament with a thumping 47-6 win over Singapore to take a significant step toward the semi-finals.
Reigning champions South Korea met Kazakhstan in the battle of former champions in match three. The two went toe-to-toe before the imposing South Korea ran away 30-20 victors.
Presented by the World Handball League and organised by the Asian Handball Federation, India is hosting the tournament for the first time at the Indira Gandhi Arena, New Delhi, from December 3-10.
Source: republicworld.com
https://www.republicworld.com/sports/gritty-india-suffer-narrow-30-32-loss-to-iran-in-asian-womens-handball-championship
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/girls-model-school-advises-muslim/d/133927