An initiative designed to combat racism in Glasgow schools 'couldn’t have come at a better time' after racist online abuse was levelled at a primary involved earlier this month, an education executive has said.
Promoting Anti-Racism Together in Education (Partie) 22 has taken over Glasgow City Chambers for three days of anti-racism education which includes workshops, conversations and an interactive showcase.
Between Monday and Wednesday, students from primary and secondary schools across the city have been invited to participate in anti-racism workshops designed to give kids the tools they need to tackle tricky conversations about race, racism, and sectarianism.
One of the schools involved - St Albert’s Primary in the Southside - was subjected to "horrific racial abuse” online after Nicola Sturgeon retweeted a photo of herself with pupils, the Glasgow Times previously reported.
The tweet received an onslaught of racist abuse which has since been reported to the police as a hate crime.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon condemns racist abuse suffered by Glasgow school
The team behind Partie22 are celebrating the work that Glasgow schools do for race equality throughout the month of October, which coincides with Black History Month, and the workshop events are taking place during National Hate Crime Awareness Week.
Douglas Hutchison, executive director of education for Glasgow City Council, said: “These three days have been absolutely super.
“It couldn’t be more timely given all the nonsense that’s happened online over at St Albert’s.
“We’ve got huge diversity in Glasgow and the diversity brings a real richness to our schools.
“For me, it’s great to be able to come here and celebrate that.
“And also, to say no to racism or bigotry in whatever form that presents itself in.
“These three days have been a great celebration of everything that’s great about Glasgow schools and making sure the next generation of young people don’t develop any racist tendency.”
Hundreds of students aged from five to 18-years-old have been involved and over 25 schools are set to take part in the showcase today - which will highlight all of the anti-racist and equality work they have been doing.
The impressive interior of Glasgow City Chambers has offered a poignant backdrop for the urgency of teaching youngsters about anti-racism.
Samir Sharma, quality improvement officer for the Equalities Education Service, said: “The city does a lot of really good work and we very rarely get to share with each other what we are doing and how we are doing it.
“The issue of equality is part of the life and soul of what we do in Glasgow schools, and I think it’s just important that we have the opportunity to focus on aspects of equality.
“As we know, there are challenges across the country, across the world in terms of equality and race and racism.
“It’s really important that we are forward-thinking, and the anti-racist approach is the big way to go here.
“It’s quite a difficult subject matter sometimes, but what we are trying to do is make it easier.
“I think people find it really difficult to talk about discrimination of any kind and I think there are various forms of discrimination that are even more difficult to talk about, and complex, and racism is certainly high on that agenda.
“So, bringing it here and opening it out the way we have with our children, with our staff, we’ve got a workforce that is developing a skill base to talk about racism without getting anxious.”
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Christine McCormack and Clare Coyle, who have been recording feedback from students for the Equalities Education Service, said the feedback has been “extremely positive” from students and teachers who say they want more events like this.
Councillor Christina Cannon, city convener for education, communities and equalities, said: “Schools across the city are using this week to highlight the great work being carried out on anti-racism learning and teaching and the importance of this to every child and young person.
“During the workshops this has included tackling some tricky conversations around race and racism in order to instil confidence and awareness that will help call out inappropriate behaviour like we saw one school last week have to endure with online abuse.”
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