A year ago, I received a call from my local Prevent coordinator to discuss a teenager who was working as a teaching assistant in a nearby supplementary school. The teenager had been speaking to a member of Daesh (the organisation calling itself Islamic State) in Syria through a popular social media website and, rightly, there were concerns, not just about the individual but also about her role as a teaching assistant and, therefore, the welfare of her pupils.

The Prevent coordinator asked if I could act as an intermediary to discuss with the school how they could put in place procedures to manage the risk that the teaching assistant might have posed and reach out to the girl herself to offer support and guidance.

Prevent has been accused of being heavy-handed or insensitive in its approach. But in my experience, the individuals who deliver Prevent recognise the need to work with the local community to safeguard vulnerable individuals from harm. After all, I was approached to help because, as the founder of the Ayesha Community School, they felt that I was a respected member of my community who understood the possible danger the teenager may have eventually been drawn towards.

I worked with the school to put in place procedures that ensured the young TA was never alone with children and always had another teacher present in the classroom. The school’s managers met with the girl’s supervisor and ensured she had full knowledge of the situation.

I also met the teenager with a local Imam to find out what had drawn her to engage with this person online and to give her an outlet in which to discuss this sensitive subject and ask questions about Islamic teachings. I talked about the risks posed by strangers online and how it was impossible for her to know whether the person she was speaking to was who they claimed to be.

How did she know whether the person who was encouraging her to travel had any authority to talk about whether it was an Islamic duty to travel to Daesh territory? How could she even be sure whether the person was male or female?

Devastating consequences

We’ve seen, all too tragically, the devastating consequences for those who have travelled to Daesh territory. It was recently reported that 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana from the Bethnal Green Academy was thought to have been killed in Syria. Reports suggested that she had wanted to come back to the UK but feared for her life if she tried to escape.

The teenager I spoke to eventually started to realise that she had been naive in believing everything this person from Daesh had been telling her. As a result, she blocked her social media accounts. We suggested that she continue to seek advice from local Imams who were well-known figures in the community, rather than from online figures.

This case highlights just how easy it is for people to fall prey to radicalisation through social media and the internet. Although it is tiny percentage of young Muslims who get caught up in this extremist ideology, the effect is catastrophic on the individual and their families, as well as being damaging to the whole Muslim community.

And the problem does not just manifest in cases of people travelling but also in cases where young people have plotted murderous attacks in the UK inspired by Daesh. We can only imagine the devastating impacts any such attach would have on broader community relations.

As teachers, we have a responsibility to educate and protect our pupils. In my school, with more than 200 Muslim pupils, a vital part of this is providing religious literacy and better understanding about the true nature of Islam, which is essential for distinguishing between the extremist interpretations that have risen to such prominence.

If unchallenged, the very real threat posed by Daesh in the Middle East can have a frightening impact on the lives of Muslims living in Britain. The terrorist group’s propaganda machine is powerful and far-reaching, targeting the young or vulnerable through social media platforms, and aiming to groom and entice them into their violent ideology.

Support and understanding

We need to have a system in place that provides proper safeguarding measures similar to those that protect children from other harms such as drugs and abuse, in order to help those that may be on the path to radicalisation by giving them the support and understanding they need.

My experience of Prevent is that it is a programme that tries very hard to do just that. It is effective in ensuring that support is given by those able to identify with the individual, by involving practitioners from a religious, mental health or social care background where appropriate.

The approach is bespoke and mindful of individuals’ backgrounds, as well as the challenges in their day-to-day lives. Had nobody intervened at an early stage with this particular teenage girl, who knows how far down that dangerous path she could have travelled?

Shakil Ahmed is principal at Ayesha Community School in London