London: An Indian-origin head mistress at a
school in Britain has alleged that she faced racial
discrimination at her job and did not get support from
authorities.
Sudhana Singh told an employment tribunal yesterday that
one man was heard saying "bloody Indian woman should not be in
charge of our children" while children were reported gossiping
that their parents "hated blacks", the Daily Telegraph
reported.
Singh, a teacher for 20 years, is suing the governors and
Reading council for race discrimination.
She claims she faced a campaign of race discrimination,
bullying and harassment and did not get appropriate support
from the governors or the council.
"I believe that the campaign to remove me from my
post was, in substantial part, related to my ethnic origins,"
she said in a statement read by the tribunal in Reading.
"The degree of resistance and hostility I was met
with was much greater than would otherwise have been the case
but for my racial origins," she said.
Singh, who started her career in South Africa in
1989, emigrated to Britain in 2001 and started teaching in
Slough, Berks.
In September 2009 she took up the post of head
teacher at Moorlands, which has more than 400 pupils, but
continued to live in Slough.
She was ordered to take "gardening leave" in July 2010,
and suffered a miscarriage shortly aftwards.
She returned to work at the start of the new school
year but claimed the bullying, harassment and racial
discrimination started again.
She was signed off sick by her doctor in October
2010 and was later diagnosed with depression and symptoms of
post traumatic stress disorder.
PTI
