The Guardian newspaper said in a report published on its website on Saturday that around 5,000 cases of racial abuse had been seen in UK schools in 2017, an increase of about 10 percent compared to the previous year.
The report added that those cases were the ones that led to an action against the perpetrators, including fixed or permanent exclusion. However, reports have suggested that there could have been many other incidents of racial abuse across UK schools that have gone unnoticed mainly because authorities, both in schools and law enforcement agencies, have been less inclined to address all of them.
Experts believe there are other reasons too, including the fear in the victims to pursue the cases as it could ultimately leave them in more vulnerable situation and cause them to abandon the education.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron removed a duty for school authorities to monitor and the incidence of racist bullying, with right campaigners accusing him and the next coalition government of deliberately “burying” the problem rather than trying to tackle it.