RACISM needs to be tackled in school classrooms with pupils as young as five, says Coventry City Council.

That is the message from the council after a report showed racist abuse at schools in Coventry involving younger children had increased.

Incidents of abuse at primary schools in the city rose to 230 in 2009-10 from 205 the previous year. Across all city schools, racist abuse rose by 4.5 per cent in 2009-10 to 439, up from 420 the previous year.

The council report – which broke down abuse into “physical”, “verbal” and “other” – shows a disproportionate 230 incidents took place at primary schools, compared to 162 at city secondary schools.

Councillor Lynnette Kelly, portfolio holder for education, said dealing with racism had taken on a much greater focus in citizenship classes.

“One racist incident in a school is too many but unless we take it seriously and look at what is actually going on, we can’t challenge it.

“A lot of this is about primary schools recognising that this can happen. Children will repeat the language they hear from their parents without realising what it is.

“Unless we record all these things we just aren’t aware it’s going on – it could just be brushed off as an argument between two kids.

“The first step to tackling it is acknowledging it is present.”

The report includes latest available figures as incidents are collated at the end of each academic year.

It showed a large number of racist incidents at special schools with 47 – despite them making up only a tiny percentage of city schools. The council vowed to work with these schools to review practices.

The report also showed 30 per cent of schools reported no racist incidents during 2009/10, compared to 34 per cent the previous year.

Coun Kelly said the increase in reports of racism followed a clampdown on reporting such incidents since 2002.

She revealed city schools had brought in “peer mentors” – fellow pupils to go to first to talk about any incidents of racist abuse.

“Lessons are being given about understanding other people and their feelings, and you can do that from a very young age,” she said.

“It’s about making pupils understand the consequences of their actions.”



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