School children who are not white British are being asked to provide proof of their birthplace, in order to confirm whether they are asylum seekers or refugees, it has been revealed.

New rules laid out by the Department for Education this year mean schools must collect a greater degree of census details from pupils starting school.

The Government insisted the change had been introduced as part of a drive to determine how effective the education sector was for foreign nationals in the UK.

Schools are now advised to seek birthplace data from parents, but cannot force parents to provide it.

A report from Schools Week found that many schools are misinterpreting the guidance, with many demanding copies of pupils’ passports and asking parents to confirm their child is not an asylum seeker.

According to the news source, De Beauvoir primary school in Hackney, east London, is one institution that has issued a form to parents that appears to require staff to check the details provided against passports and birth certificates, as well as asking whether or not their child is a refugee or asylum seeker.

Parents at Garth Hill college in Bracknell, Berkshire, received different emails depending on their child’s reported ethnicity.

Parents of white children, who were deemed to be “white-British”, were told the school assumed they had been born in the UK and that they did not need to reply unless this was an error.

However, parents whose children had a different recorded ethnicity were told to send in proof of their birthplace as a matter of urgency.

St Richards Church of England First School in Evesham, Worcestershire, also contacted parents asking them to provide pupils’ passport numbers.

Spokespeople from each school said they were unable to comment at the time.

Concerns have been raised over the schools’ approaches since it is said to be unclear to many parents how their data will be used. It is also not always made clear to the parents that they can opt-out of providing the data.

Diane Leedham, a specialist English as an additional language (EAL) teacher, said she was worried about the “range of interpretation” schools were placing on the Government’s “contentious but clear” instructions.


Mening: Ik vind het absurd dat leerlingen met een andere huidskleur hun paspoort en geboorte akte moeten laten zien aan hun school. Dit is niet alleen ongepast, maar ook racistisch. Persoonlijk vind ik dat de beveiliging van het land in de eerste plaats in orde moet zijn, met als gevolg dat je zo'n maatregelen niet moet treffen. Daarbij komt nog eens dat deze maatregel enorm racistisch is. Alleen kinderen met een andere huidskleur moeten bewijzen dat ze in Groot-Brittannië zijn geboren, maar dat bewijst nog niets. Er zijn vele kinderen die in Groot- Brittannië zijn geboren, maar waarvan hun roots ergens anders liggen. Er zijn veel leerlingen die er Aziatisch uitzien, maar werkelijk in Groot-Brittannië zijn geboren. Er kunnen evengoed blanke leerlingen zijn die niet legaal in het land verblijven, dus enkel bewijs van de geboorte plaats vragen aan leerlingen met een andere huidskleur bewijst niets.

Bron: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/e...l op 23-09-2013