The Telegraph quoted a study by the Henry Jackson Society, which reported that Muslim students asked Hindus to convert or face the “dangers of hell for unbelievers”, using words such as “kafir”.
Half of Hindu parents surveyed reported that their child experienced anti-Hindu hatred in schools, while less than 1 percent of surveyed schools reported anti-Hindu incidents in the last five years.
The survey, which covered 988 Hindu parents and more than 1,000 schools across the country, found that “there were numerous instances of derogatory references to Hindus, such as mocking their vegetarianism and insulting their deities, which Islamist extremists were also carried out by the Hindu community in Leicester.”
The study states, “In one instance, a Hindu female student had beef thrown at him, and a male student had to change East London schools three times because of anti-Hindu bullying. Eight physical assaults were detailed.”
In one instance a child was “harassed and told that if they converted to Islam, their life would be so much easier” and another was told: “You won’t live very long … if You want to go to Jannah, you have to convert to Islam… Hindus are vegetarians at the bottom of the food chain, we will eat you.
Another parent said children were told to watch videos of an Islamic preacher and “convert because Hinduism doesn’t make sense”, The Telegraph reported.
According to the think tank, the religious education was “promoting discrimination” against Hindus with inappropriate references to the Indian caste system and misconceptions on the worship of deities, which the students “made a mockery of”.
It was found that only 15 per cent of the parents surveyed believed that schools adequately addressed anti-Hindu incidents.
Conservative MP for Milton Keynes Ben Everitt told The Telegraph that the findings were “damaging” and called for urgent reform of religious education.
“The findings of this report are damning and highlight the various themes and forms that anti-Hindu discrimination embodies in the classroom,” he added.