REPORTS of racist bullying in Edinburgh schools have soared in the past year, says a new report.
An average of 30 reported cases are now logged every month during the school term, with fears that may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Anti-racism groups believe fewer than one in four incidents in schools are reported, while the city's own educa
tion department also admits there is a culture of "under-reporting".
While racist incidents are on the increase, the same report also highlights a significant decrease in reported overall bullying.
But while the city council has been carrying out a number of initiatives to try to reduce bullying, education leaders admit it does not paint an accurate picture – some schools have reported a soaring number of incidents while others have logged none.
Education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren said: "Our objective is to get an accurate picture of what's going on in schools. Our aim is not to sweep this under the carpet."
The figures show that the number of reported racism incidents in primary and secondary schools rose from 262 in 2005-06 to 289 last year. In contrast, reports of bullying dropped from 658 to 384 during the same period.
They also reveal a surprisingly high number of reports of homophobic incidents in primary schools – 14 last year.
The council is now implementing a series of initiatives to encourage children to feel more confident about reporting bullies, and to develop more consistency within the city's schools when it comes to recording the incidents.
Initiatives include using "circle time" for younger children, where a group sit down with a teacher to talk about various issues in a bid to identify problems.
Surveys will also be sent out to children and their parents to get their views. Special events like anti-bullying weeks and assemblies highlighting the issues will also be used more.
Edinburgh and Lothians Race Equality Council works closely with schools, holding conferences with young people to get their views on how to deal with racist bullying. Its director Nina Giles says in her experience of working with youngsters, she has discovered that fewer than one in four racist incidents are reported.
She said: "It does appear that a lot of young people still don't want to report incidents because they feel that when they do, not a lot gets done about it or because of a fear of reprisal. It doesn't surprise us that racist incidents have increased because there's still quite a lot of racist attitudes within society and this is an issue we have to continue to tackle."
