The murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence prompted the Government to insist schools report incidents of racist abuse. A Freedom of Information request by the EADT has revealed the number of Essex primary schools reporting racist abuse has doubled in the last seven years.

THE number of Essex primary schools reporting racist abuse incidents has virtually doubled over the last seven years, it has been revealed.

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Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show 105 schools reported an instance of abuse in 2010/11, compared with 53 in 2003/4.

Critics argue the increase is simply down to schools getting better at reporting incidents. Yet the number of both Essex secondary and infant schools reporting racist abuse dropped over the same period, from 49 to 45 and 15 to 12 respectively.

Last year, the 105 primary schools reporting racial incidents recorded a total of 164 cases – which is an increase on the 139 reported in 2003/4.

Figures peaked in 2009/10 when there were 164 incidents reported.

Jean Quinn, of the north Essex National Union of Teachers, rejected the idea racism had gone up, arguing reporting had just got better.

She said: “I’d say the number of schools who could get to grips with the legislation and feel confident of carrying it out has increased as time has gone on.”

Reporting racist incidents in schools was made a requirement by the Government following the fatal stabbing of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Vibha Osbon, a development worker at Tendring and Colchester Minority Ethnic Partnership, was concerned by the figures and said the underlying problem could be even worse.

She said: “We are concerned because people are not always reporting racist incidents – in some cases they might not even know how to report them.”

She believes some incidents are classified wrongly, such as racism being reported as bullying instead.

“I think we need better promotion of education and training for everyone, concerning how to recognise racism and report it.”

She continued: “The demographics have changed too – there’s more ethnic minorities in Colchester for example.

Councillor Stephen Castle, cabinet member for education at Essex County Council, said: “We take racism very seriously and during the past year we have been holding race equality sessions with headteachers across the county.

“These sessions have highlighted the need to act on issues of racism within our schools and encouraged a greater level of reporting, which is why we have seen an increase in the number of incidents.

“We will continue to work with schools to ensure that such issues are reported effectively.”