Jane Dodds Calls For Action on Racism in Welsh schools
Today (12th June 2024) in the Senedd, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for action against racism in schools across Wales.
A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed that in the 2018/19 academic year alone there were 174 exclusions related to incidents of racism across 21 local authorities.
The Welsh Lib Dems have now called on the Welsh Government to take a proactive stance against racist bullying and harassment in schools.
Speaking to the Siambr on Wednesday, party leader Jane Dodds MS urged for the creation of a “comprehensive system” to track patterns of discrimination and review schools with high exclusion rates.
Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:
“Despite some meaningful progress, people from ethnic minority backgrounds are still facing disparities in housing, education, employment, and healthcare.
There have been some noted areas of positive change, but complacency is the enemy of progress and there is still more work to be done.
The education sector remains a critical background in the fight against racial inequality, and more needs to be done to address how schools should handle racist incidents.
The minds of our children are fertile ground, and we cannot fail them by allowing them to view appalling behaviour such as racist bullying or harassment as the norm.”
