Ministers have been urged to stop 'prejudiced' parents from pulling their children out of religious education (RE) classes because they don't want them learning about Islam.

Delegates from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers' annual conference called on the government to clamp down on mothers and fathers who prevent their children hearing about specific religions, according to the Telegraph.

Richard Griffiths, from the union's Inner London branch, said 'rare cases' where a family's religious beliefs gave genuine grounds for withdrawal was 'very different to the cases of parents with certain prejudices, including Islamophobia and antisemitism, who wish to remove their children from certain lessons or visits to places of worship that would significantly hinder the ability of the school to prepare a child for life in modern Britain'.

He said that parents were abusing their right to withdraw their child meant they missed on an opportunity 'that allows for critical thinking, big questions, allows children to explore their own and other religious beliefs and non-beliefs'.

Griffiths told the conference: 'I'm sure you are well aware of the dangers of members of society closing themselves off to the rest of the world, the dangers of social media channelling an ever more extreme reflection of people's beliefs, without balance, and the dangers of those children who are ignorant of other religious beliefs and non-beliefs, and lack an understanding of the way that individuals, regardless of religion, can work together and make a positive difference to society are increasingly vulnerable to targeting by extremists.'