Pupil rejects Edinburgh City Council’s offer to meet following ‘disappointing’ racism inquiry

The investigation was launched after 73 complaints of racial abuse, including claims that teachers called pupils ‘monkeys’ and ‘slaves’ were levelled across five Edinburgh schools.

But was condemned as “meaningless” by pupils after it emerged that staff will face no disciplinary action, despite a senior manager being accused of misconduct by 40 students.

Miguel Chui, an ex-pupil of St Augustine's High School who compiled a dossier of 40 complaints, was invited to meet with the city council to discuss the report's findings.

However he has rejected this offer as he believes the council has shown itself unwilling to protect pupil's welfare.

Mr Chui said: “The council has offered to meet with me, and the other complainants, to discuss the outcome of the investigation and any related matters.

“I have rejected the offer. I personally see no point in having any further discussion with the council.

“If the authorities are unwilling to protect the pupils to whom they owe a duty of care, I have no choice but to consider other means to protect these pupils.”

The report concluded that there was “no evidence that a culture of racism existed” at the schools but Mr Chui said there was extensive evidence provided showing a culture of racism did exist.

Section seven of the report states that “a normalising of racist name calling is cited in almost all schools to varying degrees” and “there were examples where staff had not been sufficiently sensitive to the impact of racism”.

Mr Chui said if the lived experiences heard in the investigation were not enough to show the council that there was a culture of racism as city schools “nothing would” and he feels unable to continue engaging with the local authority on this matter.

The report has received positive feedback from Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council chairman Foysol Choudhury MBE.

Mr Choudhury said: “I’m glad the investigation is finished and I find the report to be relevant and a positive step towards eliminating racism in schools in all its forms so both staff and young people feel safe and enjoy their education experiences.”

A spokesperson from the council said: “Thanks to the young people coming forward and sharing their personal accounts we have a clear plan going forward for positive change in how our schools deal with racist incidents.

“This includes improving processes for reporting racist incidents, increased staff training, improving the culture in schools to clearly show zero tolerance of racist conduct, managing racist incidents sensitively and ensuring ongoing support for anyone reporting racist conduct and reviewing the curriculum to ensure it does not perpetuate racist or colonialist attitudes.”

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