Muslim Teacher Fired After Showing Malala Video

New Jersey teacher Sireen Hashem says she followed the same curriculum as other history teachers at her school.

She was one of multiple teachers, she says, to show classes a film clip about Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Upon request, she helped another teacher translate an interview with a schoolbook’s Palestinian subject.

But unlike her coworkers, Hashem was fired from Hunterdon Central Regional High School, allegedly over her lesson plans. A self-described “Muslim American of Palestinian descent,” Hashem says she was prohibited from mentioning Islam or the Middle East in her history classes after parents and local religious leaders complained about her to school administrators.