Thread: Group: British Kids Unfairly Deemed Racist

Group: British kids unfairly deemed racist

Published: Oct. 29, 2009 at 4:22 PM

LONDON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A civil liberties group said in a new report that each year, as much as 40,000 children in Britain are unfairly deemed racists at their schools.

The Manifesto Club civil liberties group said new stringent school regulations have resulted in children being punished for making racial insults that many of the young offenders likely do not understand, The Daily Mail reported Thursday.

"The obligation on schools to report these incidents wastes teachers' time, interferes in children's space in the playground, and undermines teachers' ability to deal with problems in their classrooms," said Adrian Hart, author of the report.

School officials, as part of new regulations instituted in 2002, are required to report all racist incidents to their local authority.

Since the implementation of those rules, nearly 280,000 incidents have been reported, the civil liberties group claims in its "The Myth of Racist Kids" report.

Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families Diana Johnson defended the practice.

"If racist bullying is not dealt with in schools, then this will send a powerful message to children that racism is acceptable -- not only in schools but in society as a whole," Johnson told the Daily Mail.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Internation ... 256847721/

Schools report 40,000 cases of racism a year

More than 250,000 alleged racist incidents have been reported in schools as staff are forced to investigate every single playground spat, it has been claimed.

By Martin Beckford
Published: 12:01AM GMT 29 Oct 2009

Schools are obliged to monitor and report all racist incidents to their local authority Photo: CLARA MOLDEN

Primary school pupils and toddlers in nurseries are being punished for making racist insults, according to a report, even if they don’t understand the terms they use.

Teachers are being treated like counter staff in police stations as they have to fill in forms detailing name-calling and jokes.

Meanwhile diversity “missionariesâ€