Muslim pupil calls police after teacher talks about ham in class

The teenager, who attends school in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) was in a geography lesson when the teacher explained to the class that the cold climate of Trévelez in Granada favoured the curing of its locally-produced ham.

According to the school, the pupil asked the teacher, “do you mind not talking about ham in front of me?”

The police attended the school after the boy's parents put in an official complaint.

Ramón Pérez Maura, who has the full support of the ministry of education, said he did not consider that the other 29 pupils in the class should adapt to one student's way of thinking, but that this one student should attempt to fit in with his class.

The ministry says the complaint is 'ridiculous' and 'unfounded'.

Despite this, the boy's mother announced on Punto Radio today that the incident was a case of racism.

She claims the teacher told her son that if he did not like the Spanish way of teaching, he should 'go back to his own country'.

Even the president of the Spanish Federation for Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI), Mohammed Hamed, says it is a 'case of sovereign stupidity' to put in an official complaint against a teacher for talking about ham in front of a Muslim pupil.

The Islamic association leader says the Q'ran forbids eating pork, ham or bacon, but does not prohibit Muslims from talking about it or hearing about it.

Additionally, ham producers in Trévelez have given Pérez Maura a free cured ham as a gift following the incident.