UK launches new website to tackle radicalisation of children

London: The UK Tuesday launched a new website to offer "practical advice" to protect children from being radicalised as part of a larger anti-extremism drive.

The "Education Against Hate" website will hold information for schools and parents to tackle the "spell of twisted ideologies".

It also involves a tougher approach against illegal or unregistered schools such as madrassas from operating.

UK education secretary Nicky Morgan said the aim is to protect "impressionable minds from radical views" during a speech at Bethnal Green Academy in east London, a school attended by three girls who ran away to Syria last February and feared to have joined the Islamic State.

She said: "We are determined to keep children safe in and out of school. Today's announcement of resources and tougher powers to protect young, impressionable minds from radical views sends a clear message to extremists: our children are firmly out of your reach."

"It requires judgement - but just as we must be absolutely clear that we should never give those who peddle extremist ideologies' entry in to our schools or colleges, so too we must guard against inadvertently hiding young people from views which we simply think are wrong and disagree with.

The new anti-radicalisation website promises to provide "practical advice to protect children from the dangers of extremism", with information from the government and groups such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Schools will be required to inform local councils when pupils stop attending without any explanation and parents will be encouraged to carry out checks to ensure their children are not being radicalised.