An astonishing revelation has surfaced that across the United Kingdom, 51 per cent parents of Hindu pupils surveyed accepted that their children experienced anti-Hindu feelings in their schools while fewer than 1 per cent of schools with Indian pupils reported any kind of anti-Hindu feelings in last five years. This was revealed in a research paper Anti-Hindu Hate in Schools’, conducted by Center on Social and Political Risk in UK. This is the first dedicated report investigating discrimination against Hindus in UK schools. It highlights the extent to which schools are seemingly ill-equipped to identify and prevent anti-Hindu hate.
The report gains importance in the light of civil unrest in Leicester extending to Birmingham, including vandalism of property, assaults, stabbings and attacks on places of Hindu worship. The research was conducted by Henry, Jackson society Center on Social and Political Risk.
The report says, it has come to light through the survey that teaching about Hinduism has been aimed at fostering religious discrimination towards Hindu pupils. Besides, 19 per cent of Hindu parents believe that schools are able to identify anti-Hindu hate. Against all these, it has also surfaced that 15 per cent Hindu parents believe schools here adequately address anti-Hindu related incidents. Though the UK boasts of its multicultural, multi-faith society, there is more to be done to ensure that people of minority faiths are free from discrimination and prejudice, especially within its education system. Education is often the best tool for tackling discrimination, while also being the most effective vehicle for driving social change in society and strengthening the bonds of community cohesion upon which any diverse society depends. Generally, it has been observed that many forms of prejudice and discrimination are institutionalized and are often difficult to identify and isolate. Reacting over the study, Ben Everitt, a British MP, says that he welcomes this pioneering national study into the nature and extent of discrimination that young Hindu people face within the UK’s education system.
Undoubtedly, the findings shed light on the myriad forms of anti-Hindu discrimination pervading the classroom. The nuanced approach of the study highlights that the discrimination, in fact, is multi-faceted. The discrimination can take the form of anti-Hindu slurs but also how a problematic approach to teaching Hinduism is instrumental in nurturing prejudice and finally about the approaches being adopted to overcome these problems in each individual school. “Certain slurs have become common for Hindu students in the UK though authorities are well conversant with these phenomena, they overlook the existing scenario”, highlights the study. The study explains that this sort of discrimination can lead to heightened alienation and has the potential to spoil community cohesion, thus undermining the faith in the country’s ability to provide the best learning environment possible for all our young people. This cannot continue beyond the damaging slurs that Hindu children are being subjected to in schools. The need of the hour is to look at the standard of teaching surrounding religious education. “The real, sustained, long-term progress in reducing discrimination towards those of minority faiths in schools is the need of the hour so that young children can get holistic education through the fabric of diverse United Kingdom”, observed the study. Overall, by looking into the complex nature of anti-Hindu hate within schools, next step can be taken for tackling this form of discrimination to make schools here more tolerant and safe.
Following this, concern has been raised regarding race or faith-targeted hate incidents in schools. It has also been noticed through study that these incidents are more widespread than thought. “Failure to record bullying incidents in detail and address patterns that may be emerging could result in missed opportunities to build a safe and equal society, not just for the Hindu community but for the safety and well-being of minority communities”, finds study.
More broadly. Schools have a special responsibility as a point of contact where young people of all backgrounds may come together and need help in negotiating their differences with sensitivity and understanding. As a first step to uncovering the scale of the problem, the Government should reconsider its 2012 and 2017 guidance, and introduce new reporting standards for schools that cover both race and faith-targeted hate incidents. The findings of this study add weight to the recommendations made by the Commission on Religious Education that there should be a statutory and national approach to teaching religious education subject to inspection. The Commission also recommended a wider lens on the subject that avoids a purely Abrahamic framework and access to national resources that can support all schools in teaching the complex and sensitive issues that arise.
Shifting onus away from the present decentralised system of local SACREs (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) would increase quality assurance and provide a more standardised approach for all students. Hinduism is the third largest religion in the UK making up 1.7% of the population, according to the most recent census. “Hindus and other minority community members have faced lots of troubles like Hindu-Muslim civil unrest in many parts of the country like noise control issues during festivals. Hindutva has been replaced with Hindu extremism, leading to the further alienation of the community”, reveals the study.