MPs call for historical education review

A cross-party group of members of Parliament has written to British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson calling for a review of the national curriculum led by people from ethnic minorities to better reflect black history.

The move comes in the wake of the global response to the Black Lives Matter movement, sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the United States, and incidents such as the removal of historically and politically divisive statues.

"We all have a duty to make sure the next generation, at least, has a better understanding of the historical injustices contributing to institutional racism that persists in the UK and elsewhere today," said Layla Moran, education spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat party.

"As a former teacher, I know firsthand the value of education as a tool to empower young people to make change happen. That's why we need to include a more diverse range of historical perspectives in our curriculum and examinations."

Mary Bousted of the National Education Union backed the suggestion. "We must improve the curriculum so that students learn about how Britain was founded on global histories," she said.

The vice-chancellor of Oxford University Louise Richardson has said "hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment" as the row over Oriel College's statue of 19th century British businessman Cecil Rhodes continues.

Former Oriel student Rhodes was a prominent figure in British imperialism in Africa, and in recent years his racial views have seen his reputation questioned.

In 2015 the Rhodes Must Fall movement had his statue removed from Cape Town University in South Africa and a similar movement in Oxford has gathered strength in the current climate.

"We need to understand this history and understand the context in which it was made and why it was that people believed then as they did," Richardson told the BBC.

"This university has been around for 900 years. For 800 of those years the people who ran the university didn't think women were worthy of an education. Should we denounce those people?

"Personally, no - I think they were wrong, but they have to be judged by the context of their time."

In a speech in 2003, South African President Nelson Mandela paid tribute to Rhodes, saying he was "part of shaping what present day South Africa turned out to be." Rhodes's legacy was, he admitted, "controversial", but Mandela said he should still be "remembered by posterity" for his philanthropy.

But the incoming master of University College Oxford, Baroness Valerie Amos, has questioned why the statue needs to stay up to have such a debate.

"I would take it down," said Amos, the first black head of any Oxford college. "He founded a company that made money through slave labor in the mines, and you're telling me that we have to put up a statue of this person, glorify their memory, to have a conversation about our history?"