Muslim dad’s court threat over Keighley nursery meal

A Muslim father is threatening to take his child’s nursery to court after he claims it allowed the three-year-old to eat ham and other non-halal meat.

Abdul Shukoor is accusing Strong Close Day Nursery of “discrimination” after two incidents involving his son, Ayaan.

Mr Shukoor, of Paget Street in Keighley, alleges nursery staff failed to ensure Ayaan stuck to his religion’s strict dietary rules, and also regularly served vegetarian meat substitutes to Muslim pupils instead of halal food.

He has written to Keighley MP Kris Hopkins regarding the issue, and will meet with managers of the organisation that runs the nursery – educational charity the Pre-School Learning Alliance – tomorrow to discuss his complaints.

“I’m thinking of taking the nursery to court over discrimination,” Mr Shukoor said. “We pay the same as everyone else for him to go, so it is discrimination for them not to provide halal meat in his diet.

“It shouldn’t have happened the first time, let alone twice. How can we be sure it doesn’t happen again?”

An Alliance spokesman said: “We’re aware of the allegations made by Mr Shukoor and can confirm they are the subject of an internal investigation in line with the charity’s complaints procedure.

“We take all complaints seriously and are committed to a full and thorough investigation. We can also confirm that in line with policy and procedures, we have made Ofsted, the regulating body, aware of these allegations.”

Muslims are not allowed to eat pork or ham as part of their religion, and any other meat must be prepared using traditional halal methods.

But Mr Shukoor says Ayaan is too young to know what not to eat, and believes it is the nursery’s responsibility to make sure he sticks to his diet.

When he visited in November, he found his son eating ham, and he believes his son got chicken from another child’s plate.

Mr Shukoor said:"I visited to see how he was getting on and he had ham on his plate and in his hands.

“There were staff sitting on his table but they hadn’t done anything about it.

“I met with the area manager after that and made some suggestions, and they have been totally disregarded. My wife walked in last week and found he was eating non-halal chicken.”

An Alliance spokesman said: “We’re aware of the allegations made by Mr Shukoor and can confirm they are the subject of an internal investigation in line with the charity’s complaints procedure.

“We take all complaints seriously and are committed to a full and thorough investigation. We can also confirm that in line with policy and procedures, we have made Ofsted, the regulating body, aware of these allegations.”

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