Australia's leading Islamic schools are in the midst of a leadership crisis, with school principal sackings, accusations of mismanagement of taxpayer funds, slipping standards and concerns they are becoming more hardline.
Parents have protested about what they say is poor management by the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC), the group that runs the schools.
The schools receive up to $40 million a year in federal and state government annual and building funding.
A key concern is the sacking at many campuses of principals who have been replaced in some cases by appointees parents feel have insufficient teaching qualifications or experience.
.... The new principal of the Islamic College of South Australia said the school's major focus was going to be the improvement of the Islamic curriculum.
Students report that at the high school, where boys and girls have long been loosely segregated, there are now bans on boys and girls sharing corridors and members of the opposite sex who speak to each other are sternly chastised.
There have been parent and student protests, with a student who was involved in a protest about the sacking of a much-loved teacher expelled by text message. [ABC] Read more
