Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Racial abuse incidents at Perth and Kinross schools down more than 50%

Perth and Kinross Council headquarters. Image: Phil Hannah
Perth and Kinross Council headquarters. Image: Phil Hannah

Reported incidents of racial abuse at Perth and Kinross schools have more than halved over the past five years, according to new figures.

The figures came in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by The Courier to Perth and Kinross Council.

In the year 2014/15, there were 41 Racist Incident Forms completed in relation to racial incidents by Perthshire pupils to either other pupils or members of staff.

By 2018/19, this had fallen to 18 reports, less than half of the number of reported incidents five years earlier.

A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “Any instance of racism in our schools is treated very seriously, and we are proactive in the work schools undertake to prevent such incidents occurring.

“Schools are encouraged to report such incidents should they occur, and they will be responded to appropriately in line with Council policy and guidance.”

These new figures come as reports of racially aggravated hate crimes overall across Perth and Kinross reached a new low.

Information released by Police Scotland in early December revealed that the number of racially motivated hate crimes in 2018/19 had dropped to 49 from 70 in 2014/15.

A multi-organisational approach is taken in work to reduce the number of racist incidents that take place within Perth and Kinross schools.

Education and Children’s Services work alongside other council services and the charity Show Racism the Red Card to deliver education and anti-racism workshops.

Workshops have been provided on a yearly basis to primary schools across Perth and Kinross for over a decade.

More than 10,000 school pupils have taken part in sessions during that time.

Furthermore, the St Johnstone Community Trust takes a proactive role in tackling racism.

They deliver two hour classroom workshops to primary schools throughout the area.

In the year 2019/20 so far, the trust has delivered education workshops to pupils in  primaries six and seven at 35 local schools, totalling 957 pupils.

Chief Executive of the St Johnstone Community Trust, Atholl Henderson said: “[We] are pleased the number of racism incidents in local schools is reducing.

“We find there is a positive response to the way each session is delivered, both from class teachers and pupils.

“We look forward to building upon this partnership work in the future.”