Twenty kids a DAY are kicked out of school for racism
The number of incidents of racist abuse rose by a fifth from 2009 to 2015, shocking new figures have revealed
SHOCKING new figures have revealed twenty children are kicked out of school for racist abuse every day.
Data from the Department for Education shows there have been more than 27,000 exclusions for racism since 2009 - with the number of incidents up by a fifth in those six years.
Just last year there were 4,000 cases serious enough to warrant a fixed or permanent exclusion.
Racist abuse in schools includes racist statements, graffiti, taunting, harassment and swearing.
One out of ten cases recorded occurred in a primary school, with the rest happening in secondaries.
New Schools Network (NSN), which carried out an analysis of the figures, says it shows a need for more cohesive schools to be set up in diverse areas.
They have called for a new category of "social need" to be part of the free school application criteria.
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Many of the incidents were recorded in northern, midlands and coastal towns - but Richmond in southwest London topped the list, with Islington, north London, coming in fourth.
Sarah Pearson, interim director of New Schools Network, told The Times: "Free schools are already doing great work in their communities to break down barriers between children of different classes, ethnicities, and cultures.
"The addition of a ‘social need’ category in the free school criteria opens the door further for schools, charities and other community organisations to come forward with ideas to create schools designed to build community cohesion"
A Department of Education spokesperson said: "Racism has no place in our schools and any incident, however rare, is unacceptable. No pupil should experience harassment or abuse, least of all on school premises. That is why we’ve given headteachers more powers to tackle poor behaviour and exclude pupils if necessary, as well as introducing new training for teachers to help manage and support disruptive children.
"All schools must promote the fundamental British values of mutual respect and tolerance for those of all backgrounds, faiths and beliefs, and they are required by law to have measures in place to prevent bullying – including racist bullying. To support them we provided charitable organisations £3.3million in 2015-16 on top of the £4 million pledged the year before to deliver training, support and expertise in tackling bullying.
"Free schools are a vital part of ensuring all pupils have access to an excellent education. We have set out how free schools can help social integration, by bringing pupils from different backgrounds together, which is why we are actively encouraging new free school proposers to demonstrate ‘social need’ in their applications."
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