Australia Islamic School ‘Bans Running’ over Virginity Fears

What about figure skating then??

An Islamic college in Australia is under investigation after claims that its principal has banned girls from taking part in running competitions because they might “lose their virginity”.  [1]  The school is located in Melbourne’s outer-west takes male and female students from Prep to Year 12, and also has campuses at Tarneit and in Indonesia. [8]  Victoria state Education Minister James Merlino said Thursday that if true, the claims made by a former teacher at Melbourne’s Al-Taqwa College “would be very concerning”.  [2] [8] “There are minimum standards that school’s must meet, including minimum standards of governance. I’ve asked the VRQA to investigate to determine whether these reports are true and if they are, to report back to me and what further action could be taken,” he said in a statement.  [1] [2]  The former teacher wrote to government ministers this week alleging “the principal (Omar Hallak) holds beliefs that if females run excessively, they may ‘lose their virginity’”, The Age newspaper said.  [3] [5] “The principal believes that there is scientific evidence to indicate that if girls injure themselves, such as break their leg while playing soccer, it could render them infertile.”  [3] The teacher claimed Mr Hallak stopped the female cross country team from participating in a 2013 and 2014 district event, Fairfax reports. [3] The newspaper published a letter that appeared to be written by the college’s cross-country team to Hallak challenging his decision. [1]  The girls had been training hard for the competition when Mr Hallak realised they were set to compete and cancelled it.  The girls were reportedly distraught by Mr Hallak’s intervention and penned hand written letters of complaint in which they expressed their disappointment. [3]  “It was really shocking to find out it had been cancelled because the excuse girls can’t run,” one student wrote. [3] “Just because we are girls doesn’t mean we can’t participate in running events,” the letter said, adding that the decision was “really offensive to all the girls that were going to participate”. [2]  “It also doesn’t say that girls can’t run in the hadith (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed). As long as us girls are wearing appropriate clothes we can run.”  [2] The teacher claimed she had worked at another school where both boys and girls had equally been encouraged to take part in sporting activities. [3]  “I look back on my time at Al-Taqwa with frustration and anger, which is how I felt most of the time while I was working there,” she said in the letter.  “I did my best to stay committed to the students however in the end, I was unable to provide the same opportunities to students that I was given when I was at a primary school, more than 20 years ago. [3]

What about ballet??

Al-Taqwa College is believed to be Victoria state’s largest Islamic school and had 1,701 students enrolled last year, according to government data. The co-educational independent school takes in students up to 18 years old, and received more than Aus$15 million (US$11.6 million) in government funding in 2013.  [1]  It is not the first time Hallak has made headlines.  The principal told The Age last month that he had instructed students not to join Islamic State as the jihadist group was a plot by Israel and the United States to gain control of Middle Eastern oil.  “They are trained and equipped by them: (the) evidence is all the shiny new equipment,” Hallak was quoted as saying. [1] [8] “We don’t believe Muslims are creating IS.”  He added that killing innocent people was not “the Islamic way”.  [1] Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne reportedly wrote to the school seeking an explanation for Hallak’s IS comments.  Australia has become increasingly concerned about “home-grown” IS-inspired extremists.  [2] The country raised its threat level to “high” last September and has since carried out a series of counter-terrorism raids. [2]

YMCA segregated swimming classes for Muslim women, Woman mention dogs as unclean