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There remains
a reluctance to involve the police with young children. It may
be worthwhile to consider family liaison roles in this age group.
In partnership
with the Police, Prisons, and various agencies namely: Education,
Housing, Leisure Facilities and Employment I have been able
to use a multi-agency approach to deal with the cases. Of the
93 cases recorded by NNREC, 63 are RH and 30 are RD. 15 of the
93 racial harassment cases were experienced by inmates in H
M Prisons. The rest of the statistical breakdown according to
departments is as follows:
Education
During the year a number of the racist incidents which occurred
in schools resulted in 12 mixed race children suffering exclusions,
either by the school or by the parents refusing to send their
children to school because they felt that the racial harassment
if not stopped, would destroy their children. I am pleased to
report that the NNREC played a big role in the successful return
of all the children to school.
The NNREC
in partnership with David Sheppard, Norfolk Education Advisory
Service, has worked with other agencies to review the anti-racist
guidelines for Norfolk Schools. 15 schools have developed anti-racist
policies and from this we have received requests from others
to do the same work. The anti-racist guidelines for schools
will complement the work I am doing on anti-racist awareness
presentations and training input in schools. This work resulted
in training input to 5 schools, and following this I received
invitations from schools requesting similar training.
As stated
at the Norfolk Conference Stephen Lawrence Inquiry [1999], education
has a big role to play in eliminating racism. It is one of the
best tools to promote understanding, respect and valuing one
anther鈥檚 culture and ethnicity. I shall continue to use all
my skills and these tools to address racial equality issues
in schools. My work with Norfolk Education Service in raising
the achievements levels of minority ethnic pupils is still at
infant stage, however ethnic monitoring to determine achievement
and progress of pupils has been carried out: 64% primary and
44% secondary schools responded. Some schools reported that
there are a few parents who are not in favour of their children鈥檚
ethnicity being recorded. These set backs due to a lack of awareness
of the need for ethnic monitoring to progress action will not
stop our work. We shall continue to educate and to improve.
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