The Birmingham governor accused of being a “prime mover” in the so-called Trojan Horse scandal has vowed to remain working in education - despite being banned from any involvement in schools.
Defiant Tahir Alam said he would not give up on his career as “an educationalist” after the Government used new powers to bar him from managing independent schools or being on any governing bodies.
The Department for Education ban was imposed earlier this year after Mr Alam faced allegations he had put pupils “at risk of vulnerability to radicalisation” and failed to provide them with “the necessary learning and skills to flourish in modern, multi-cultural Britain”.
The 48-year-old, of Small Heath, was named in an anonymous letter ‘leaked’ to the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham City Council almost two years ago detailing ‘Operation Trojan Horse’ - an alleged plot by hardline Muslims to Islamise schools by taking over governing bodies and ousting headteachers.
It was supposedly penned from one conspirator to another in Bradford, describing a five-step process “tried and tested” in Birmingham to take over a number of schools.
The Trojan Horse letter sparked several investigations and saw Ofsted plunge five city schools into special measures - Nansen Primary, Park View, Golden Hillock, Saltley, and Oldknow.
Mr Alam last year ended up quitting his role as chair of governors at Park View Educational Trust - which ran Nansen, Park View and Golden Hillock - while 10 teachers from the three schools are currently facing allegations of imposing an “undue” amount of religious influence on pupils’ education.
The DfE said Mr Alam had been banned from governing schools for exerting too much control over PVET and “espousing an intolerant and narrow faith-based ideology”.
But Mr Alam categorically denied any part in any plot, which he refers to as “Trojan hoax” , and pledged to continue his 20-year career working in education, which has seen him training governors for the council and being a member of the Muslim Council of Britain.
He said: “The allegations made against me are fallacious. The whole thing is a farce.
“We had open and transparent schools, we had a Sikh headteacher and a white feminist who was an atheist and a humanist as executive principal. Would they also be running an Islamic plot?
“I don’t want to leave education, I want to stay in education in some way or form - how I will do that I am still thinking about. I reject the banning order and I am appealing it.”
Mr Alam heavily criticised former anti-terror chief Peter Clarke’s Government-commissioned report into Trojan Horse.
“I feel like my name has been defamed, that I have been depicted as some kind of sinister character with extreme views,” he added. “I feel like I have been pitched as the enemy of the state. It is surreal as it is not the person I am.
“I am aw-abiding and I have always believed in participating in mainstream society. I’ve raised my children to believe they are part of this society and they are British.
“I have been labelled a hardline conservative Sunni Muslim. I generally don’t accept labels given to me by other people, I give myself labels.
“I am just a Muslim, and I try to be a good one.”
Mr Clarke said that while his investigation had not actively looked for evidence of terrorism, radicalisation or extremism, he had found evidence of a “sustained and coordinated agenda” to impose attitudes and practices on children of “a hardline and politicised strand of Sunni Islam”.
He also criticised Mr Alam’s denials, adding: “The description of the majority of events described in the letter have turned out to be factually accurate.
“As Mr Alam has spent many years working in education in Birmingham, not only as a governor at six schools but also as a governor trainer on behalf of the council, it is perhaps surprising that he should fail to recognise any of the contents of the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter as being accurate.”
But Mr Alam said: “I can only comment on elements of the letter that are about me, and they are the only ones that Peter Clarke put to me.”
However, when asked if there had been a conscious move to increase the number of Muslims working in and governing Birmingham schools, Mr Alam replied: “There should be, if there wasn’t there should have been.”
He claimed Birmingham schools, particularly those in predominately Muslim areas, were “underrepresented” by people of their own religious beliefs and cultures.
Mr Alam, himself a former pupil of Nansen and Park View, said there were up to 80 schools in Birmingham with predominantly Muslim pupils, yet nationally just four per cent of governors are of an ethnic minority. And he said no more than 10 schools in Birmingham were run by Muslim headteachers.
“In a democratic society institutions should reflect the communities they serve, it is about having fairer representation,” he added.
He insisted an Islamic “ethos” did not exist at PVET’s schools, claiming pupils chose to segregate themselves in classrooms, while only 10 per cent of pupils regularly took part in Islamic prayers and sex education conformed to government policy.
A DfE spokesman said: “Extremism has no place in our schools. We will investigate any allegations and will not hesitate to take action against individuals who put children at risk by exposing them to radicalisation or extremist views.”