In Virginia, because of the job of Arabic calligraphy, schools were closed

In Augusta County, Virginia, all schools were temporarily suspended because of a scandal that erupted around homework about Arabic calligraphy.

A geography teacher at one school asked 9th grade students to reproduce in their notebooks a phrase written in Arabic script, which translated as “There is no god but Allah.”

Some students refused to perform the task, and their parents complained to the authorities. According to them, in this way children are inclined to Islam. Some of the parents require that teacher Cheryl LaPort be fired.

LaPort saysthat she did not herself come up with this task, but took it from a standard textbook on world religions. Some of her former students launched a campaign to protect Cheryl LaPort in social networks.

After numerous complaints, the Augusta County Education Department decided to temporarily close the school where the incident occurred, and then the rest of the district’s schools.

At the same time, both the school leadership and the authorities insist that the sole purpose of the assignment was to demonstrate how complex the Arabic language is. In the future, they promised to keep the task in the program, but to choose a phrase for it without religious overtones.

According to local officials, the work of schools is suspended as a precautionary measure. At the same time, according to their estimates, there is no serious threat to the safety of students.

Following the terrorist attack in the city of San Bernardino, there is an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in American society, to which the scandalous statements of a number of prominent political figures are to some extent. For example, a member of the Republican election race Donald Trump suggested close Muslim entry to the United States.

US President Barack Obama in his speech this week urged Americans condemn "hatred and prejudice" against Muslims. In addition, senior Obama administration officials met with American Muslim leaders to prevent discrimination and persecution of Islam in the United States.