Schools told to ramp up efforts to stop racist bullying

One in five children from ethnic backgrounds reported racist bullying.

The Education Review Office (ERO) says schools must do more to stop racist bullying of children from ethnic communities.

A report the office published on Wednesday said one in five children from ethnic backgrounds reported racist bullying in the past month, and nearly a third said their school did not take the problem seriously.

More than half reported seeing people being mean to others because of their ethnicity or culture and one in five had read racist messages, the report, Education For All Our Children: Embracing Diverse Ethnicities, said.

Nearly one in five learners said they had to hide their ethnic identity at least once or twice a month, and a third felt lonely at school every week or day.

“Too many learners from ethnic communities experience racist bullying and racial biases,” the report said.

The report said about 16 percent of school pupils were from ethnic communities, most of them born in New Zealand, and within 20 years they would account for nearly 30 percent – most of them from Asian communities.

The report said 80 percent students from ethnic communities believed their teachers treated them fairly, but more than one in four said their ethnicity influenced the courses teachers recommended for them.

The report said learners from ethnic communities, especially Asian children, achieved well at school, but some groups had bigger gender gaps and often wanted higher expectations from their teachers.