Alarming rates of racism in schools

Tens of thousands of children are having their lives blighted by racism in schools, the BBC has reported today. In response to a Freedom of Information request that looked at 90 areas, the BBC found more nearly 90,000 cases of racist bullying were reported. From verbal abuse to physical violence, many incidents made students lives unbearable. Yet the Government want to change the guidelines for reporting racism.

Sarah Soyei, of the anti-racism educational charity, Show Racism the Red Card (SRRC), said:

Unfortunately, the numbers of recorded racist incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. Racism is a very real issue in many classrooms around the country, but cases of racist bullying are notoriously underreported. Often teachers may not be aware of racism in their classrooms because victims are scared of reporting them out of fear of making the situation worse.

The BBC highlighted the case of 14-year-old Khadeja Fahat. Since the year 9 pupil faced racist Islamaphobic abuse every day at her school in Wilmslow, Cheshire, her education has suffered along with her mental health.

"I was tormented nearly every day; I was scared to go to school," said Khadeja.

"I used to go to school thinking: what am I going to face today?

"Is someone going to physically hurt me, or shout something at me or throw something at me?"

She continued: "The other children would shout verbal abuse at me; I was called a terrorist and a Taleban and asked why I was behind 9/11.

"Someone once shouted: look at that girl, she has a bomb in her bag.

"It made me feel so low and all my confidence had gone.

"I went from this happy girl who was always smiling and loved going to school and learning, to someone that didn't care about anything and just wanted each day to be over."

The Government has been urged to rethink its guidance on reporting racism at schools that might lose this valuable data. In a statement, the Department for education said:

"It is teachers and parents - not central government - that know what is happening in their schools, and they are best placed to deal with racist behavior when it happens.

"We would expect all schools to implement their own processes to ensure they are dealing with racist incidents in the most appropriate way, rather than being bogged down with paperwork from the centre - which can sometimes mean that the most serious cases of racism are not dealt with."

The great worry is what Sarah Soyie stated that what we’ve got is only the tip of the iceberg. Most Black parents will contest that in many schools up and down the country racist incidents barely get reported and those that do often get brushed under the carpet, and or blame the victim.

We must all urge the Government to rethink their new guidance plans. We don’t just want our children to survive the racist taunts; we want our children to thrive in our schools.

Simon Woolley