The Labour party is proposing that children be taught about the injustice inflicted on the world by the British Empire as part of the national curriculum.
The policy proposal is set to be announced by Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, later today as part of his race and faith manifesto.
The event will take place in Tottenham (north London), and besides Corbyn, the shadow Women and Equalities Secretary, Dawn Butler, and Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, will also be in attendance.
Labour’s race and faith manifesto pledges to improve social justice and human rights conditions in Britain.
Besides Britain’s imperial history, the manifesto is proposing that the national curriculum teach the slave trade and colonialism in general.
According to Labour party sources, Corbyn wants British youngsters to understand how “slavery interrupted a rich African and black history” and moreover they should be taught about the “resilience and sacrifice of those enslaved and the struggle for liberation”.
Predictably, the Tory Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, is set to attack Labour’s new proposals by accusing the party of “dangerous control freakery” in relation to education policy.
Beyond the education secretary, the Tories have hit out at Corbyn by claiming it is “staggering” to see Labour “lecture people” during a probe over alleged anti-Semitism.
This is despite the fact that the Tory party refuses to formally investigate widespread claims of Islamophobia in the Conservative party.
The Guardian reported on November 12, 2019, that twenty-five sitting and former Tory councillors have been exposed for posting Islamophobic and racist material on social media.
Hitherto, the British national curriculum has never systematically taught school children about the adverse long-term impact of the British Empire, which at its height in 1922 covered a quarter of the world and ruled over 458 million people.