My aim is to compel the UK government to allow Black History to be taught in all primary & secondary schools across England, Scotland & Wales as part of the national curriculum.

This all came about because my daughter Neimah is in year 9, recently picked her GCSE subjects, but yet from the mountains of homework she’s had over the years, she’s never had a single piece of school work on black history. Does that mean black people like her didn’t exist or achieve anything in the UK until now? No, but that’s the impression you give young minds like hers, when you remove people who look like her from history, because they don’t fit the narrative. Lets let history speak for itself.

It’s not good enough that at the moment, schools ‘may teach examples of black history’. I want them to have a set curriculum, in which all children have the opportunity to learn the full history of Great Britain & all the countries it colonised.

If we want an inclusive Britain, we have to start including the rest of Britain. For example, we recently celebrated 75 years since VE Day and yet the non-white soldiers were not represented in the media, giving the impression they didn’t fight side by side for victory & freedom. 

We want all children to respect & value one another. How can we expect them to do so, if they don’t know the full history of how Britain became Great & how it stays Great, because of every single one of us? We all contribute something whether it’s culture, skill-set, food, music, art, ... That is what makes us Great Britain. 

We want the story of immigration to be discussed openly In schools from a young age, to remove the stigma placed on immigrant children based on ignorant rhetoric. We do that, by allowing all children to share where they are from and celebrate multiculturalism.

It is not acceptable to hold back one’s history while you teach another. It gives the impression, that from an early age, one matters and the other doesn’t. I have white friends who are embarrassed that they know nothing about black history & wished they had learnt it in school. It’s not too late to introduce it in our curriculum. Have a term each year where they focus on black /brown history.

If we want to change the way our society thinks, then we have to equip all our children, so that they can grow up to be fair, well rounded, open-minded adults.

The previous petitions over the years were rejected, but we will continue to apply pressure on the UK government. Let’s make sure our children are educated on diversity today, so that tomorrow they can all have a better understanding on how they can live in harmony.