K–12 · Muslim students face religious bullying at more than twice the rate of their peers — often from adults. Schools and families have evidence-based tools to create safer schools for all children.
The high rates of religious bullying targeting Muslim students, especially by school staff, reveal critical gaps in educator training, accountability systems, and protective policies.
According to findings from ISPU’s American Muslim Poll 2025, nearly half (47%) of Muslims with children in grades K –12 indicated that their child or children were bullied for their religious identity in the past year. In comparison, only 23% of families with K–12 children among the general public reported facing religious-based bullying during the same period, revealing that Muslim students are more than twice as likely to experience religious-based bullying.
What is even more troubling is the source of the bullying. While more than half (55%) of Muslim families reported that the person bullying their child was another student, 49% named an adult as the bully, including 36% who identified a teacher or other school official and 13% who reported the bully was a parent of a classmate.
Of Muslim families whose child was bullied named an adult as the bully — including 36% who identified a teacher or school official, and 13% a classmate's parent.
The problem extends beyond physical school grounds into digital spaces and broader school culture. A 2022 CAIR-Texas report surveyed 68 students ages 10–18 enrolled in public and non-Islamic private schools across the Austin, Texas, metroplex. Researchers found that 38.2% had encountered at least one offensive statement or post about Islam or Muslims made by peers on social media, while 37.3% had seen verbal abuse directed at Muslim students. Nearly one in four students reported that fellow Muslim students had been physically harmed due to their religious identity.
Source: CAIR-Texas
Concerns extended to teachers and school staff as well. A majority of students surveyed (64.7%) reported that their teachers did not always discuss Islam or Muslims in class in a factual way. Furthermore, when students reported being bullied, 86.2% said the issue was not fully addressed.
ISPU’s Religious-Based Bullying report, produced following the National Interfaith Anti-Bullying Summit held in Washington, D.C., in 2017, revealed that bullying can cause serious and lasting damage on children’s development:
These findings underscore an urgent need for improved teacher and school administrator training, stronger accountability measures, and better resources to help parents advocate for their children.
The following recommendations are organized by stakeholder groups. Consider which group(s) you are part of and what actions are within your sphere of influence to implement. The recommendations below are adapted from CAIR’s 2025-2026 Back to School Resources Guide, Illusive Illusion: Islamophobia, Discrimination, and Lack of Accommodation in Public Schools, Educator’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices, Addressing Bullying and Bias in Schools, Religious-Based Bullying: Insights on Research and Evidence-Based Best Practices from the National Interfaith Anti-Bullying Summit, and input from toolkit advisors.
All students need to experience schools that are both physically and psychologically safe, and they have the right to a sense of belonging within their school community. This is especially critical for Muslim students, as Islamophobia continues to dominate bullying in K–12 schools. Educators and school leaders must deepen their knowledge of how discrimination by peers and authority figures affects Muslim students and take measures to address bullying. The following are actions items that educators and school leaders can take to mitigate Islamophobia in their schools:
Assess your school’s climate by including religious minorities in surveys given to parents and students. Nurture an inclusive environment for all students. Administrators, educators, and school staff should be aware of not only the racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender identities of their students but also their various religious identities.
Based on the survey, create action plans to address the challenges Muslim students are facing in your school
Include administrators, parents, teachers, and students to develop and implement anti-bullying policies and strategies.
Implement curricula for social-emotional character development (SECD) of students, including promoting upstanders who intervene on behalf of a person being bullied.
Explicitly state protected groups in the school’s Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) policy. Include Islamophobia in a list of the types of bias that are unacceptable (you can use the definition provided in this toolkit).
Support Muslim students by sponsoring student groups and clubs, recognizing their religious holidays, and providing religious accommodations such as safe prayer spaces and areas for fasting students to sit at lunch during Ramadan.
Critically examine course curricula for inaccuracies about Islam and Muslims. Address bias and inaccurate curricula.
Equip teachers through Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism trainings to develop the awareness and skills necessary to identify religious-based bullying.
Provide teachers with resources and training on both cultural competency and basic religious literacy about Muslim practices.
Design identity and self-exploration-based practices for teachers in which they explore their own beliefs and values to identify bias and prejudice that may have an effect on how they manage students with religious minorities in the classroom. This is critical as it emphasizes that empathy and social-emotional learning occur throughout the school system, not just at the student level.
Include authentic, factual information when choosing professional development for teachers and staff regarding appropriate religious accommodations for Muslims. Give teachers resources to help students and parents request appropriate religious accommodations.
Record and manage all incidents of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bullying as they are reported. This entails compliance with the school’s anti-bullying policy, including investigation and remedies to ensure the safety of the targeted student(s).
Clearly define bullying and harassment, including setting standards and thresholds for bullying:
• Verbal: Name-calling, threats, sexual comments, taunting, insulting comments made about Islam
• Social: Spreading rumors, excluding others on purpose
• Physical: Hitting, shoving, kicking, pinching, spitting, tripping, taking or breaking someone’s property, pulling on someone’s headscarf or kufi
• Cyber (via electronic communication): Sending hurtful text messages to others, spreading rumors or lies online, creating websites or social media profiles to humiliate or make fun of others
Support Muslim students who have experienced bullying by providing them with an avenue to report these incidents. Counseling may also be needed depending on the child’s well-being, as well as the severity and persistence of the bullying.
Address the child who bullies to understand what is compelling them to act aggressively and to see if counseling may be warranted.
Include questions on introductory surveys at the start of the school year about children’s likes, needs, and faith celebrations. This allows parents to connect to the school culture and can lead to parents collaborating with or speaking to students about their religious holidays.
Parents play a crucial role in protecting their children from religious-based bullying and supporting them when incidents of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bias occur. The following strategies can help parents build strong communication with their children, partner effectively with schools, and monitor potential sources of harm.
Since targets of bullying often feel shame about being victimized and therefore hesitate to discuss such instances, it is important to develop strong parent-child bonds characterized by an open, honest dialogue. Continue this open relationship into adolescence where children may be even more vulnerable to bias incidents as they may start to further explore facets of their religious and cultural identities.
If bias or bullying incidents occur, avoid asking “why” questions. Rather, focus only on what, when, where, who, and how.
Foster a relationship with the school and teachers, learn about the anti-bullying policy, and be active in community organizations like PTAs or other such groups.
When bullying or bias incidents occur, request a meeting with school administrators and send a follow-up email documenting the meeting to create a record that will enhance school accountability. Consider taking a community advocate to meetings with the school. Conversations should include questions about consequences, restorative justice, and prevention strategies.
Think ahead about cultural and/or language barriers that could impact successful communication with schools. Access translation or other communication resources either through the school community or local Muslim community to ensure clear communication and understanding.
Show up as an ally to your school community. Provide support in the form of sharing authentic resources, speaking in classrooms, and attending parents’ meetings to discuss reasonable religious accommodations.
Monitor your students’ use of technology in their daily lives.
Be aware of the laws and policies governing cyberbullying in your district.
After reading this section, educators and school leaders should consider the following questions about their practices and school environment:
Islamophobia is a form of discrimination, bias, and racism against Muslims and consequently those who appear to be Muslim that relies on stereotypes of Muslims and Islam that can result in their unequal treatment. Islamophobia is structural and can be seen in American social structures, laws and policies, media narratives, and ideologies. It also exists in interpersonal interactions between individuals that result in the unjust treatment of Muslims and those misidentified as Muslims in society.
