The Closing of the Imanskolan

The following news video from Sweden is not current; it originally aired sometime last spring.

A Muslim-themed school in Uppsala known as the Imanskolan was shut down after its pupils were exposed to “radicalization”, due to their being taught in a parallel society. The interesting thing about the story is that the decision to close the school was taken based on input from Säpo, the Swedish Security Police. Säpo investigated the school and reported its findings to the Inspectorate of Swedish Schools, which moved to close the Imanskolan.

The video features interviews with Maged Ashkar, a member of the administrative board for Imanskolan in Uppsala, and Fredrika Brickman, the head of the Inspectorate of Schools.

Many thanks to Gary Fouse for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:

Video transcript:

00:00   Parents have been contacted and are very upset.
00:03   They have their children, pupils here,
00:06   and think this is an unfair description, and we see it that way too.
00:12   In the School Inspectorate’s decision, a risk is seen that pupils can be radicalized.
00:21   What is your view of that information?
00:24   That is completely, completely against how we work today.
00:28   The risk is very, very minimal.
00:32   We have invited them today to come and inspect.
00:36   An unannounced inspection — talk with the teachers, pupils, parents —
00:43   and form their own opinion here and now.
00:46   This is an examination of the owners and management.
00:49   We look to see if the priorities of the school leaders are appropriate
00:55   and if they have knowledge. That means that we really don’t look into the operation,
01:01   and in examining the owners and management, we very seldom go out and visit.
01:04   As for what is happening, I cannot answer today.
01:07   Obviously, we will appeal this erroneous and unfair decision.