MORE young people in Harrow could “fall prey to negative paths” as a result of spending cuts, a report has warned.

The study, by voluntary group Youth Foundation Services (YFS), found some of the borough's hardest to reach teenagers see the police as a gang, are faced with bad media role models and are vulnerable to extremism.

It calls for young Muslims to be given a religious education, saying lack of knowledge of Islam has left teenagers in a state of vulnerability where they are “easily exposed to radical elements in the UK and abroad”.

The report recommends an education system that enhances mental, spiritual and personal development and suggests this could be provided in a non-formal context.

It states young people need to be positively involved in their local community and says they need a service that understands them from organisations like Harrow Council and the police.

But it concludes: “In the current climate of economic instability, looming cuts, loss of jobs it is likely that more young people will fall prey to negative paths.”

Nasir Diriye, co-director of YFS, said: “Young people have quite a high level of self-awareness. They understand a lot more than they are given credit for. They know the way people perceive them and they feel demonised.

“When you send kids to school they never go with an empty bag. They go with a half-full bag and the school has to fill it up.

“They have to be nurtured to get the best out of them.”

Mr Diriye and co-director Abdi Musa compiled the report after arranging three focus groups with black, Asian and ethnic minority young people.

Mr Musa said: “I've grown up in Harrow. With the youngsters who are here, I know their older brothers. We have that connection.

“I've grown up in the school system in Harrow and I know the issues they are going through and what they are thinking.

“It's quite similar to what I was thinking but when you educate yourself and you see what's going on there are ways to break away.”

The study depicts youths who face “confusion about identity” and have family and friends who “offered no other alternatives to the norm”.

One case study tells the story of a “very bright” Somali resident whose family came to Britain as refugees in the early 1990s.

He has completed both school and college educations but faced with unemployment he turned to chewing the stimulant Khat, a vegetable from east Africa which has narcotic effects.

The report states: “The drugs help him to alleviate the sense of hopelessness he feels and the unlikelihood of him having a better future.”

The document has been sent to Harrow Council and will be sent to Harrow Police.

Case Studies:

T is an 18-year-old Iraqi who moved to Britain four years ago with his family but failed at school and now resorts to crime as a source of income.

The report states: “He feels completely abandoned and neglected by the community, and feels isolated from the rest of society.

“This isolation has made him more immune and less sympathetic to the pain and plight of the victims of his crimes.

“This not only makes it easier for him to commit further crimes, but has also created a situation where there are now large numbers of disadvantaged black and ethnic minority youths who are living in an isolated and separate society that involves crime, gangs and violence.”

The case study describes T as “very bright, witty and charming” but says he missed a critical period of his education and as a result struggled with English.

He said he received inadequate support from his school and with no qualifications “befriended the wrong peer group who he hangs with during most of his days”.

B was raised in Britain after his mother and older siblings arrived in Wealdstone during the early 1990s from Somalia as refugees. The report says he was a “very bright child throughout his school years and always attained good grades”, and he completed both school and college.

But over the years he struggled with unemployment and substance misuse and has felt pressure to commit crime.

His circumstances have changed with the area since childhood and he now lives in a single parent household “where his older siblings have experienced similar setbacks as T and have ended up in prison”.

The report describes him as academically capable but cynical and pessimistic about his chances of getting a job and he feels he could easily be drawn into crime if his prospects do not improve.

Unemployment has been a major factor in his use of the drugs Khat and cannabis and he says they alleviate the sense of hopelessness he feels.