Recent study lifts the lid on racism within the Irish education system

According to a recent study which is due to be presented at the Immigrant Council of Ireland's conference in Dublin's Aisling Hotel today, there exists blatant displays of racism within in our children's education system - discrimination which is predominantly levelled at students of the Muslim fate.

The report on Islamophobia in Ireland, written by Dr. James Carr - a sociologist at the University of Limerick - sheds light on the failings of the country's education system - loopholes and policy inadequacies which ultimately give rise to incidents of prejudice and discrimination.

The report entitled Islamophobia in Dublin: Experiences and How to Respond surveyed 66 men and woman and sought to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be Muslim in Ireland's capital city.

According to the findings of the 97-page report, students have been subject to racial discrimination at the hands of educators who reportedly turn a blind eye to bullying or utilise the lack of a uniform policy in order to deride a pupil's religious dress.

The Irish Times reports that students have been told to "take that stupid thing off your head" when wearing a hijab or headscarf and been reprimanded with the term "Shut up, Allah" when attempting to communicate their own lived experience of Islam.

The discrimination, it seems, is not limited to primary or secondary school pupils, with university students studying at one particular college asserting that they are exposed to 'blatantly racist' lecturers, with some students going as far as to record the lectures in an effort to communicate the problem.

With an estimated 65,000 Muslims living in Ireland, Dr. Carr insists that these particular issues need to be addressed as a matter of urgency, explaining: "There needs to be recognition of the diversity of Irish society. Irish society is more than just white and more than just Catholic. There are Travellers, Roma, black Irish, Jewish Irish, Muslim Irish.”

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