Teachers’ union NASWUT said it had seen an increase in “incidences of abuse, prejudice, xenophobia and racism as a result of the coronavirus, particularly against Chinese and other East Asian ethnicities and those perceived to be from these communities”.
In a letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson and his counterparts in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the union said teachers and pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds “have been subject to ‘jokes’, banter, racist name-calling and intimidation”.
At one school pupils had been seen playing an “unsavoury game of tag named after the coronavirus,” the letter states.
NASWUT has called on politicians to “provide guidance and support for school leaders” to help tackle incidents of bullying related to the illness, known as Covid-19.
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