EXCLUSIVE: Merlino calls for ‘urgent review’
Published in The Australian Jewish News
October 4, 2019
Victoria’s Education Minister James Merlino has ordered an “immediate review” into how two Melbourne schools responded to alleged incidents of antisemitic bullying, following yesterday’s exclusive report in The AJN.
In a story that has since made international headlines, we revealed how a five-year-old Jewish student at Hawthorn West Primary School was allegedly subjected to four months of antisemitic taunts which resulted in him wetting himself in class, while a 12-year-old student at Cheltenham Secondary College was bullied into kissing the feet of a Muslim child in a park and was subsequently physically assaulted.
In both cases, the parents of the children felt they had no choice but to remove their children from the schools, which they claimed failed to adequately address their concerns.
The family of the 12-year-old, meanwhile, met with the family of the Muslim boy involved who were “blown away” when they learnt of the incident.