SOUTHEND Council will investigate whether parents are removing children from religious education lessons covering Islam in the borough.

A spokesman said the council is not aware of a problem following a similar investigation in Thurrock but the issue will be discussed.

An investigation has already been launched in Thurrock after parents from five schools removed children from lessons about Islam.

Heather Rogers, 31, from South Ockendon confirmed she had taken the unusual step, but not because she disagreed with the religion.

She said: “To me this is not about Islam, it is the fact that my kids came home and called it an ‘intensive’ study. If they said it was an intensive study on Christianity, I would have done the same.

“An intense study just sounds full-on. Maybe if it was worded better.

“When I was growing up we would learn about all religions but I don’t agree with an intense study.

While she stressed that she did not take issue with the religion of Islam, some parents who had also removed their children at the same time told her that they had done so because they disagreed with Islam being taught in schools at all.

She said: “Unfortunately, with social media a lot of people only see part of the story and are a bit blinkered to understanding the whole religion. When they think of Islam they think of terrorism and destruction, but that is only extremists. Some parents do have the wrong impression because of all the media hype.”

Labour Councillor Martin Kerin said: “We need to do this investigation to find out how many times this has happened. Even one parent doing it is one too many.

“If a child is at a school and asked to take part in a collective act of worship and they want to withdraw then they can but this is not about being asked to do that. This is learning about Islam in the same way children learn about other religions.

“We shouldn’t exclude one faith because of a certain view and think I don’t want my children to learn about that. We can’t say we’ll do a week on Judaism and then sit out a week on Islam.

“I am hoping that when the report is concluded in the summer it will only be a minute number of people and we can handle it in the least intrusive way, but that is in an ideal world.”