Wales’ Minister of Education has told every school they must tackle bullying and racism head-on after a student reportedly lost a finger while fleeing bullies.
Jeremy Miles said schools need to adopt a “robust” approach and a plan against racism will be released soon.
Raheem Bailey, 11, underwent surgery after his finger caught on a fence at his school, but he could not be saved.
A charity said the lack of mandatory anti-bullying training in Wales was “deeply concerning”.
On Tuesday, First Secretary Mark Drakeford, who called the case “shocking”, rejected a call for an inquiry into racism in schools.
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Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Mr Miles said police and local council were conducting an inquiry but stressed action was needed to prevent future incidents.
“Every school in Wales should have a robust approach to bullying and harassment and a robust approach to racist incidents.
“We have been working on an anti-racist action plan for Wales across Government and my colleague (Social Justice Secretary) Jane Hutt will be publishing that in the coming weeks and there is a role for schools to do more on this. “
Raheem’s mother, Shantal, said her son, a student at Abertillery Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent, was subjected to “racist and physical abuse” at school.
Ms Bailey said her son was “attacked” by a group of children on Tuesday May 17, who kicked him as he lay on the ground.
She said Raheem was trying to escape when he caught his finger on a fence, which then had to be amputated.
Ms Bailey said her son was “really brave” but was in “utter agony”. She said she was just glad he was alive.
Mr Miles said it was “shocking” to hear what happened to Raheem.
“Let’s be absolutely clear, racial bullying and harassment, actually any kind of bullying and harassment is totally unacceptable,” he said.
“There is no place for that in our schools in Wales. There is no place for it in our society anyway.”
Several celebrities and sports stars have reached out to Raheem to offer support, including former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and footballer Jadon Sancho.
Dragons rugby player Ashton Hewitt – who also experienced racism when Raheem was young – said he would like to meet Raheem to reassure him “he’s not wrong and should be proud of who he is”.
“I think there needs to be special training on racism and how to deal with racist incidents,” Hewitt said.
“I think there will be a lot of teachers out there who are uncomfortable dealing with racist incidents when it comes to bullying in that sense.”
He added that he thought greater diversity in teaching staff in Wales would also have a “big impact”.
“If there were more black teachers, maybe young black boys and young black girls would have the confidence to go to a teacher if they were reportedly being threatened with detention by other teachers on other occasions.”
Laruen Seager Smith, chief executive of Kidscape – a charity funded by the Welsh Government to educate school leaders and principals in anti-bullying – said it was “deeply concerning” that teachers and principals were not having compulsory anti-bullying training would have in Wales.
“I think it’s really shocking to a lot of people that you can become a teacher or a head teacher without any training in anti-bullying – when it’s so fundamental when it comes to children’s rights,” she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
“If that’s not made an absolute priority – this is mandatory, you have to set this up, you have to have this training – unfortunately you will see a difference between the schools.
“If you really want to tackle racial bullying – and other forms of identity bullying – it takes really significant resources and the government has recognized that they need to do more in this area.”
Adam Price, the chairman of Plaid Cymru, spoke at the Senedd on Tuesday and called for an investigation into racism in schools, which was originally made in a 2020 show Racism The Red Card report.
He suggested an investigation could review anti-racism training, resources for educators, data collection, bullying policies and the Estyn Inspection Group’s role in monitoring.
Mr Price said Raheem Bailey’s experience was “unfortunately by no means unique in Wales”, citing a survey in the report which found 25% of teachers had observed, acted upon or had a pupil report on racial discrimination in the last 12 months.
The same poll found that 63% of students said they or someone they knew had been a victim of racism.
“No incidents of bullying, whatever their motivation, are acceptable in schools in Wales,” said Mr Drakeford.
Mr Drakeford dismissed the call for an inquiry and said the Welsh Government’s anti-racist action plan, due to be published next month, will include a “significant section on anti-racist action” in education.
“I myself am more interested in ensuring that we can take these actions, actions that we have agreed with so many voices with lived experience who helped us create this plan, than in any further investigation.”
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