Thousands of school governors in Britain were reportedly told that it was “disinformation” to assert that “men belonging to a particular religion” were responsible for the Pakistani Muslim child rape grooming gang scandal in towns and cities across England.
During a series of safeguarding training provided by GovernorHub, a third-party management platform that is used by two in three schools in England to provide training on best practices, the school leaders were pressed on a scenario in which a student has spread “disinformation” and therefore presents a potential “online safety risk”.
The training, which was leaked to The Telegraph by a concerned parent governor, characterised the scenario as thus: “At a board meeting, your staff governor reports overhearing pupils in her class talking about a video they were sent, falsely claiming that men belonging to a particular religion are using new tactics to commit violent crimes against women in your local area.”
They were also told that “pupils have sent the video to their friends because they think it’s true and want to help girls in their class to stay safe”.
Then, the governors were asked: “What type of online safety risk are the pupils in her class participating in spreading?” with three multiple-choice answers; Misinformation, Disinformation, or Conspiracy Theories.
This comes despite the left-wing Labour Party government admitting earlier this year that there was “clear evidence of over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani-heritage men” and that there were “examples of organisations avoiding the topic altogether for fear of appearing racist or raising community tensions.”
Despite Prime Minister Starmer previously accusing people demanding a national inquiry into the scandal of jumping on the “bandwagon of the far-right” and of spreading “misinformation,” Starmer’s government was pressured into launching an inquiry into the sexual exploitation of mostly young white working-class girls and the politically correct coverups by police and local officials.
The parent who leaked the training material said that he did so out of concern that it would lead schools to dismiss or overlook current claims of sexual abuse, as was done so often by authority figures across England amid the grooming scandal.
“Thousands of girls were gang raped by – as the question describes – ‘men belonging to a particular religion’. The authorities ignored the victims,” he said.
“For governors to be trained to behave in a way that would enable further such abuse is sickening and highlights the casual attitude so many still have towards these evil crimes.”
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp added: “We now know that the majority of rape gang perpetrators were of Pakistani origin. Claiming this is ‘disinformation’ is exactly how the rape gang scandal was covered up in the first place. This so-called training is a disgrace, and little more than propaganda designed to aid the cover-up of these appalling crimes.”
A spokesman for GovernorHub admitted that using grooming gangs as an example in training about online safety risks was “inappropriate” and said that they have removed the question and have informed the 5,000 school governors who took the training of the change.
Nevertheless, it appears that the left-wing Labour Party government is intent on doubling down on teaching children about the dangers of so-called “misinformation”. This week, it unveiled plans for a “revitalised” national education curriculum, which will include warnings about “how to spot fake news and identify misinformation and disinformation”.
The lessons, which will begin being taught in 2028, represent the first significant changes to the curriculum in over a decade. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that it is “more crucial than ever that young people are equipped to face the challenges of today.”
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