Oz teacher sparks controversy by asking students to plan ‘terror attack’

MELBOURNE - A West Australian high school teacher sparked controversy recently when she gave students an assignment, which involved planning a terrorist attack that would kill many innocent people.

The society and environment teacher at the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School asked Year 10 students to pretend they were terrorists planning a chemical or biological attack on “an unsuspecting Australian community”.

“Your goal is to kill the most innocent civilians in order to get your message across,” News.com.au quoted the assignment as reading.

The students had to explain their choice of victims and decide the best time and place to release their weapon.

The issue came to light when a 15-year-old student refused to do it, and made a complaint to the school, saying she was horrified and disgusted.

The assignment was withdrawn and the teacher counselled, but not before the issue was aired on talkback radio in Perth on August 25.

Principal Terry Martino said he had the task withdrawn as soon as he was aware of its content, and he had talked to the teacher.

According to the West Australian newspaper, he said the teacher was relatively inexperienced and had made a “well-intentioned but misguided attempt to engage the students”.

“This is one mistake by a hard-working, keen young teacher who is highly regarded by staff, students and community,” Martino said.

Education Minister Liz Constable said she was pleased Martino acted quickly to ensure the assignment was withdrawn and the teacher was counselled.

“It was certainly an inappropriate method of exploring the issue of conflict and had the potential to offend and disturb parents and impressionable students,” she stated.

“Schools take the education and teaching of these issues very seriously but this must be done in an appropriate way,” she added.

State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said Martino had taken the “appropriate” action under the circumstances.

“The assignment has created some controversy in the school community and the (wider) community,” she said.

“I don’t know the motivation behind the program … in hindsight the teacher is probably wishing they hadn’t done this,” she added. (ANI)