Alexandra Enberg
14 December 2023•Update: 14 December 2023
IZMIR, Türkiye
A teacher in Sweden has been suspended without pay after giving his students the task of planning a hypothetical terrorist attack as a homework assignment, local media reported Wednesday.
An investigation has also been launched into the move by the teacher, who works at a high school in the southern city of Jonkoping.
The following is an excerpt of the instructions given to the students.
“You are a terrorist planning to make a political statement by releasing a chemical or biological agent on an unsuspecting Australian community. Your goal is to kill the MOST innocent civilians in order to get your message across.”
“You are aware that the chemical/biological agent you will be using only has a ‘fatal’ range of 200 meters (if air/waterborne).”
It then follows with a series of questions for the students, including: “What are the effects of this agent?” “Where would you release it? “How would you release it?” and “Who have you chosen to be your victims? -- Explain why.”
The teacher’s action has provoked strong reactions within the municipality.
“This is totally injudicious. We also have a high terror threat level in the country,” Henrik Natt och Dag, director of education for secondary schools in Jonkoping municipality, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
“We take what happened very seriously and will therefore also report the incident to the police,” he added.
The principle at the high school has been in contact with the students and their guardians and has provided information about what has happened. School staff members have also been briefed on the matter.
In the grading criteria for the task, it is stated, among other things, that in order to get an A, the students must have planned their act of terrorism in an understandable way and use their knowledge of terrorism. They must also present a realistic background and reason for the attack.
According to students the local broadcaster interviewed, the teacher said they could either complete the task or send him an email with a justification as to why it is inappropriate.
