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Brits Launch Classroom 'Terror Watch'

Teachers asked to watch out for extremist students

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 8, 2008 3:15 PM CDT

(Newser) – British teachers will be asked to monitor student behavior and report any suspected extremists to police under new government guidelines, the Guardian reports. A "tool kit" for teachers sets out how they should conduct classroom debates to smoke out any possible Islamic extremist or far-right racist views across all age groups. Some teachers complain that they're being handed an unfair burden.

"We have a duty of care to try to prevent any young person descending into any kind of illegal activity which could ruin their lives," said a spokesman for a teachers association. "But we're not spy-catchers."

[Images (3)]

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Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister and current Mideast envoy for the quartet, meets with a religious studies class during a visit earlier this year to a north London school. (AP Photo)

Police and prison vans are seen outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London. (AP Photo)

A community support officer stands outside New Scotland Yard police station in London last week. (AP Photo)

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Extremist groups are seeking to target young people in order to recruit and exploit them for their pernicious purposes.
- Chris Keates, general secretary of a teachers' union

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Brits Launch Classroom 'Terror Watch'