UK Sikh says he quit as school principal due to harassment
Tuesday, 09/12/2014
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
BIRMINGHAM (ENGLAND): As a Sikh and second-generation Briton running a public school made up mostly of Muslim students, Balwant Bains was at the centre of the issues facing multicultural Britain, including the perennial question of balancing religious precepts and cultural identity against assimilation.
But in January, Bains stepped down as the principal of the Saltley School and Specialist Science College, saying that he could no longer do the job in the face of relentless criticism from the Muslim-dominated school board. It had pressed him, unsuccessfully, to replace some courses with Islamic and Arabic studies, segregate girls and boys, and drop a citizenship class on tolerance and democracy in Britain.
“I suppose I was a threat, giving these children more British values, for them to be integrated into society,” Bains said in his first interview since the controversy over his departure.
CONTENTIOUS CONFLICTS
His experience has helped bring to life the contentious conflicts unearthed by a British government investigation this year into whether organised groups of conservative Muslims were lic schools. The report, released in July, highlighted Bains’ case.
Bains, 47, was born to Punjabi immigrants in a suburb of Coventry. He grew up listening to stories of how his father, a teacher in Punjab, walked 50km each day to and from school. He would study by candlelight because his village had no electricity. After arriving in Britain and securing work as a labourer, he put his son and daughters through college.
“It made me value education more, and because it is free in this country,” Bains said. “I lifted myself out of poverty because of education. If I could do it, if I could break the cycle,
