Dance lessons may also offend Muslims due to potential male-female contact, according to guidance
Schools in parts of northern England have been warned that some pupils’ drawings could be viewed as blasphemous under Islamic law, according to media reports.
A guidance document titled “Sharing the Journey,” first produced in 2022 by councils in Leeds, Calderdale, Oldham, and Wakefield and recently reissued to teachers, says several subjects – including art, dance, drama, music, physical education, religious education and Relationships, Health and Sex Education – could trigger “sensitivities… for some Muslim parents.”
The document advises teachers not to ask pupils to depict religious figures such as Jesus or the Prophet Mohammed, noting that some Muslims consider visual representations of prophets to be inappropriate. It adds that “three-dimensional figurative imagery of humans is considered idolatrous by some Muslims” and warns that “some Muslim pupils may not wish to draw the human figure.”
The guidance follows a series of rows over religious imagery in schools, including Muslim protests outside Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire in 2021 after a teacher showed a caricature of the Prophet Mohammed in class.
The document also warns that music and dance lessons may conflict with Islamic teachings because they could involve “physical contact between males and females.”
Councils say the guidance is designed to help schools handle religious sensitivities in diverse classrooms. It says concerns should be addressed with parents instead of scrapping lessons.
The guidance has drawn criticism from free speech campaigners.
“So much for the Government’s social cohesion action plan. Labour’s idea of integration is that the indigenous population of Britain has to change its behavior to fit in with the non-indigenous population. Soon they’ll be insisting children learn Urdu,” Lord Toby Young, founder and director of the Free Speech Union, told GB News.
The booklet also highlights sensitivities across other faiths, including dietary rules for Jews, Hindus, and Sikhs and fasting practices among Rastafarians, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
