Make black history month mandatory in primary and secondary schools · petition

What the petition asks

Black history month has been ignored in primary and secondary schools for decades. There should be an immediate change in the education system in which black history month should be mandatory to learn every year among primary schools and secondary schools and this should not be ignored.

Racism in the UK has been rising and the change should start within the education system. The education system is long overdue for a change and we need the government to tackle these prejudices and racism within the system. Black children are exposed to racism the minute they enter the education system. As reported by the BBC, primary school exclusions for racism in England are up more than 40% in just over a decade. This is in need of a change by effectively challenging racism in schools.

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

The Government sets the curriculum for schools, but is not responsible for prescribing the activities schools undertake in respect of particular events.

We have published the following petitions, which you might like to sign:

Add education on diversity and racism to all school curriculums: Add education on diversity and racism to all school curriculums

Making the UK education curriculum more inclusive of BAME history: Making the UK education curriculum more inclusive of BAME history

Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum: Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum

We have also published several petitions about race and equality more widely, which you can view here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open&topic=race-and-equality

Timeline

1 Jun 2020	Petition opened for signatures
11 Jun 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee