At least one racist incident was recorded in Bolton classrooms EVERY DAY on average over the last ten years, MM can reveal.
New figures show 2,397 cases of racism in the town’s schools in the years from 2004 to 2013, according to a Freedom of Information request.
Pupils are in Bolton’s 121 schools for a total of 190 days each year, meaning on average there are 1.26 racist incidents occurring every day – and these are only the ones being reported.
However Ibrahim Kala, Manager of Bolton Council of Mosques, said the data is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
“I think in the current climate of Islamophobia and negative perceptions of Islam/Muslims these figures would only be the tip of the iceberg and we know that they are very under-reported.
“There are certain strands to hate crime and I would imagine that Islamophobia would feature prominently, if it was categorized and monitored as such”, he said.
In 2004/2005 there were 233 incidents of racism, in 2005/2006 there were 383, in 2006/2007 the figure reached 344 and in 2007/2008 there were 281.
For 2008/2009 there were 314 racist incidents, in 2009/2010 there were 262, in 2010/2011 the figure reached 288 and in 2011/2012 there were 231.
However Bolton Council, who released the figures, pointed to the dip in racist incidents between 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 as reason for encouragement.
While the current academic year between April and October has seen 61 reported incidents of racism.
A Bolton Council spokesman said: “We continue to work with schools on this important issue and it is covered as part of the school curriculum.”
Schools must report all race incidents and what follow-up action they have taken under race equality laws.
Picture courtesy of Machine Made via Flickr, with thanks.
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