London - Some of Britain's leading children's authors are refusing to do readings in schools because of a new rule forcing them to register first with a government anti- paedophile database.
It is not just the £64 (S$150) fee for the police checks that has outraged the authors. It is also the idea that they - and even parents who volunteer in schools - must be declared innocent before being allowed to read to children.
Some of the biggest names in children's book publishing have joined the boycott beginning this autumn.
Philip Pullman, award-winning writer of the Dark Materials trilogy, said he was never alone with pupils and a teacher was always present.
'Why should I have to pay £64 to a government agency to give me a certificate saying I am not a paedophile?' Pullman, 62, told BBC radio.
'It's actually quite dispiriting and sinister,' he said. 'Children are abused in the home, not in classes of 30 or groups of 200 in the assembly hall with teachers looking on.'
The new rule, which takes effect in October, requires anyone who comes into contact with schoolchildren or vulnerable adults to register with the newly established Independent Safeguarding Authority and undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check to prove they are not a known threat.
A spokesman for the Home Office said applicants who pass will have their names placed on a national database clearing them to work with children. Those who fail will be registered on the agency's Barred List, making it a crime for them to have any contact with schoolchildren, said the official.
The new system was spurred by the 2002 murders of 10-year- old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman at the hands of a school caretaker, Ian Huntley, in their village of Soham near Cambridge.
The girls did not attend the school where Huntley worked, but knew his partner, Maxine Carr, who had been a teacher's aide at their school. The case spurred outrage because some authorities were aware of sexual misconduct allegations against Huntley, but did not pass them on to school officials.
The new rule imposes the requirement on anyone coming into contact with children at school, even for a very brief period. It also applies to writers such as Pullman who pay regular visits to schools.
Michael Morpurgo, the 2003- 2005 governmentappointed children's laureate whose celebrated novel War Horse has been made into a play, says the British government has overreacted.
'We need to warn children, 'Don't get in people's cars, be wary.' But for authors and illustrators and storytellers to be under this cloud, to have to produce a piece of paper showing you are not a paedophile, I think it's one step too far,' he said.
'It's teaching children to be suspicious. You should introduce them to the world and say it's full of kind people with some people among them you really have to watch out for, not tell them the whole world is a nasty, wicked place.'
Authors joining the boycott include Anne Fine, the 2001- 2003 children's laureate whose book, Madame Doubtfire, was made into an Oscar-winning movie starring Robin Williams, as well as Anthony Horowitz, who penned the Alex Rider spy novels.
Horowitz told the Independent newspaper the scheme was 'ludicrous'.
Fine said: 'I will only work in foreign schools, where sanity prevails.'
Roald Dahl illustrator Quentin Blake said the government was guilty of a 'grotesque misunderstanding'.
The government said it would be irresponsible to allow adults to work regularly with young children without conducting background checks. 'This applies as much to famous authors as it does to cleaners, administrative staff and visiting firemen,' said a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Anthony Browne, the current children's laureate, said authors should not be given special treatment if they wanted to work with children.
'If may seem ridiculous but if it saves one child's life then it's worth it.'
Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse
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