According to the child's mother, who has not been named, workers at the Luton-based nursery raised the suggestion after the boy drew a picture of a man with a large knife cutting the vegetable.
Alarmed at the sight of the knife, staff asked the child what he was drawing. They heard the child call it a "cooker bomb,"misinterpreting the boy's words as a type of improvised explosive device, when in reality it was a mispronunciation of"cucumber," the BBC reported.
Boy at nursery meant "cucumber" not "cooker bomb" https://t.co/WyqnGTdNBt @5Pillarsuk @UK_CAGE pic.twitter.com/CcQCZnnaWVโ Friday Khutbah (@FridayKhutbah) March 11, 2016
With a legal obligation on teachers and public service workers to report concerns of extremist behaviour to authorities, staff suggested to a local panel of police and social services that the young boy be considered for the government's de-radicalisation initiative, Channel.
Muslim Boy's cucumber drawing prompts de-radicalisation call #islamophobia #cookerbomb pic.twitter.com/yWoNDtrntDโ Faisal Kutty (@faisalkutty) March 11, 2016
Although this measure was decided against, the boy's mother said she was "baffled" by the experience as well as feeling"distraught" over the thought of her children being taken from her.
The mother told the Guardian how nursery staff wanted her to sign off on their assessment of the boy's drawings and their referral to the programme, but she refused.
@martijn_grooten I would be much more concerned that nursery school staff know what a "cooker bomb" is.I had never heard of it.โ Derek Robson (@asinine_net_nz) March 11, 2016
He had drawn a picture of his father cutting a cucumber and staff thought he referred to it as a "cooker bomb".THE STATE OF BRITAIN...!โ Sunny Hundal (@sunny_hundal) March 11, 2016
"I said: 'When you look at me from where do I look like a terrorist?' and she [staff member] said: 'Well, did Jimmy Savile look like a paedophile?'" the mother told the newspaper.
#cookerbomb pic.twitter.com/Cz3Y7RwC6wโ Attiq Malik (@AttiqMalik001) March 11, 2016
No apology has been issued to the family for the matter but the child does still attend the nursery.
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why is this even news? because the kid is Muslim?
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no one cares when it's not part of the professional victim class