Race row teacher loses case

The tribunal rejected claims of unfair treatment

A teacher who claimed that he suffered racial discrimination after a classroom dispute in which he sat on the Koran, has lost his industrial tribunal case.

Stephan Shimkin, who has been suspended from Denbigh High School in Luton since May 1999, had claimed that he had been racially discriminated against following a dispute with Muslim pupils at the school.

But the tribunal rejected Mr Shimkin's allegation that as a white Christian in a school in which 90% of the pupils were Muslim he had been treated unfairly.

The Roman Catholic religious education teacher, who represented himself at the tribunal in Bedford, had claimed that he had received death threats and abuse from Muslim pupils after sitting on a copy of the Koran.

The teacher had claimed that he had sat on the book to prevent it being grabbed by unruly pupils, during a lesson at the school two years ago.

But pupils complained that sitting on the Koran had shown a lack of respect for the Muslim faith - and in the dispute that followed, Mr Shimkin received a written warning.

The 52-year-old teacher accused the head teacher, governors and local education authority of failing to support him when he complained about pupils' behaviour and suggested that they had discriminated against him rather than face the antagonism of pupils and parents.

Mr Shimkin, who taught at the school for seven years, now says he is considering whether to take the case further.