UK schools branded racist for having only 30 black male head teachers

London: There are just 30 black male head teachers in England`s 21,600 state schools, official figures obtained by the Guardian show, triggering accusations that the country`s education system is "institutionally racist". The Department for Education (DfE) revealed that there are 20 black Caribbean or black African male heads in state nurseries and primaries and 10 in secondary schools. There are none in special schools.

The figures from November last year – which do not include academies and which are the latest available – show there are 127 black female head teachers, meaning that one in every 125 heads is a black man or woman. Head teachers are overwhelmingly white – some 94.7 percent are white British. Just 0.7 percent is a black Caribbean or black African, despite these ethnic groups making up two percent of England`s population. Black people are also under-represented among those that have not yet made it to senior leadership posts in schools – 89.3 percent of teachers in England`s maintained schools are white British, while 1.5 percent are black Caribbean or black African, the statistics reveal. Marva Rollins, head teacher of Raynham primary school in Enfield, north London, predicted that it would take another 50 years for the number of black teachers to reach a level that reflects the country`s population. She said it would be another 200 years before the number of black head teachers is broadly in line with the number of black people in England. ANI