Ministers face court action as woke indoctrination 'runs riot' in UK schools

Ministers face court action as woke indoctrination 'runs riot' in UK schools

WATCH NOW: Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch discusses trans guidance for schools

GB NEWS
Jack Walters

By Jack Walters


Published: 19/03/2024

- 07:43

Updated: 19/03/2024

- 07:57

Activists have put pressure on the High Court to launch a judicial review into teaching 'gender identity ideology in schools'

Three Cabinet Ministers have been warned they could face court action after being accused of letting woke indoctrination "run riot" in British schools.

Maths teacher Kevin Lister and two parents have approached the High Court about trans campaigners promoting gender identity ideology in classrooms.


The Bad Law Project, which is supporting the court action, argued gender ideology is a political matter and subsequently could fall foul of the Education Act.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch and Attorney General Victoria Prentis have all been accused by Lister of failing to uphold the law.

Kemi Badenoch is among the Cabinet Ministers under fire for 'woke' ideology in schools

Kemi Badenoch is among the Cabinet Ministers under fire for 'woke' ideology in schools

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Lister, who was sacked for using the wrong pronouns, said: “My 20 years of teaching A-level came to an abrupt end when I was sacked and marched off the premises for refusing to call a girl a boy.

“The Education Department can waffle on endlessly about their meaningless guidance to schools – in practice schools and their trans activists allies are being allowed to run riot.”

Lead solicitor Gordon Davies added: "The law is quite clear – political indoctrination in schools is illegal and must not be tolerated by ministers, officials and headteachers.

“The Education Department has admitted that gender identity ideology is a politically contentious matter on which views differ widely.

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Attorney General Victoria Prentis (left) and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (right)

Attorney General Victoria Prentis (left) and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (right)

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"Yet it continues to ignore its own laws and to allow trans activists a free hand to encourage impressionable – and in some cases vulnerable – teenagers to change gender as a first step towards the drastic end point of changing their biological sex."

Despite facing pressure from the potential court action, Badenoch has been outspoken about so-called woke indoctrination at schools and its impact on young people.

The Saffron Walden MP, who has been tipped to battle Tory rivals to eventually replace Rishi Sunak, attacked LGBT+ charity Stonewall last year.

She said: "We started going down the wrong track on gender ideology because we allowed other people to tell government about what to do.

Trans protesters

There is a growing divide between trans campaigners and guidance

PA

"Again, ideas that came from the leftist point of view feeding into particular charities. Stonewall is the best example of this [but] it’s not the only one."

The Business Secretary also confirmed the Government "fundamentally disagrees" with the Stonewall's trans guidance for schools, claiming they are giving teachers "very bad advice".

She added: "What we are doing is making sure that for those schools that are very unsure about what to do and are getting very bad advice from organisations like Stonewall - among others - understand what the Government believes should be done.

"And this is based on legal certainty. This is based on what the law says."

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