The teaching of British values in schools is vital in preventing pupils being lured abroad to join ISIS, the head of Ofsted said .
Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of schools, insisted that young Muslim pupils ‘need to believe that they belong to our society’ and have a future here.
This will help stop them from falling for the promises made by terrorists in Syria and Iraq reports Daily Mail.
The former headteacher warned that schools which fail to promote British values – such as tolerance for other faiths – will be failed by the watchdog.
He spoke out following the death of 17-year-old Talha Asmal, who beacme Britain’ s youngest suicide bomber. The teenager, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, had quit his A-levels to wage holy war in Iraq.
Just days later it emerged that three sisters from Bradford and their nine children – thought to be aged between three and 15 – have joined Islamic State in Syria.
Sir Michael was asked for his reaction to the two controversial cases by LBC radio show presenter, Nick Ferrari, yesterday morning.
He replied: ‘It is worrying and it is shocking. We are inspecting against British values at the moment.
‘When this was introduced by the government, people said to me: is this an extra burden on Ofsted and your HMI and inspectors?’ And I said no.
‘It’s one of the most important things that we do.
‘It’s really important that all schools, whether they are faith or non-faith schools, whether in monocultural communities or not, teach British values: the importance of tolerance, the importance of understanding other cultures and other faiths.
‘And if they don’t do that and they don’t promote tolerance, then we will mark them down and we will fail them as we have done in some cases.’
Sir Michael referred to schools inspected by Ofsted in connection with ‘Trojan Horse’, an alleged plot by hardline Muslims to infiltrate state schools.