As part of a crackdown on biased “partisan politics” in the classroom, British teachers have been forbidden from endorsing Black Lives Matter.
Official government instructions on “schools’ legal duty on political neutrality” singled out the activist organization on Thursday.
“Where schools wish to teach about specific campaigning organizations, such as some of those associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, they should be aware that this may cover partisan political views,” the Department for Education (DfE) booklet warned.
“These are views which go beyond the basic shared principle that racism is unacceptable, which is a view schools should reinforce,” the official government document stressed.
“Examples of such partisan political views” include calls to defund the police, the department said.
“Partisan political views must not be promoted to pupils, including by encouraging pupils to support campaign groups advocating such views,” it warned.
While teachers should stress that racism “has no place in our society,” they should not advocate “for specific organizations that have widely contested aims or views,” the department said.
Educators were also told that they should continue teaching about “significant political figures, including those who have controversial and contested legacies.”
“It may be advisable to focus on teaching about what these figures are most renowned for and factual information about them” rather than “more complex analyses of their lives, beliefs and actions.”
The instruction, according to the Department for Education, is “based on existing legal duties on political impartiality,” rather than a change in the law.
The Telegraph, on the other hand, said that the government’s severe counsel was “the first in a generation.”
It also comes amid growing fears that leftist lobbyists are “hijacking” school agendas, including critical race theory-style education that promotes the concept of “white privilege,” according to the UK newspaper.
According to the Telegraph, Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden recently raged against a “painful woke psychodrama” sweeping the West.
“A West confident in its values would not be obsessing over pronouns or attempting to decolonize mathematics,” he told the Heritage Foundation on Monday.
UK Secretary of State for Education Nadhim Zahawi said Thursday’s guidance followed recent “discussion about political impartiality in schools, often in the context of specific political issues and movements.”
“Parents and carers want to be sure that their children can learn about political issues and begin to form their own independent opinions, without being influenced by the personal views of those teaching them.”
