It saddened me that Nell Frizzell and those who commented on her article did not appear to read any books by writers of colour at school (Want to feel like a teenager again? Just dig out the books you were forced to read at school, 28 August). The 2019 Lit in Colour report by Penguin Books and the Runnymede Trust found that 0.7% of students study a book by a writer of colour at GCSE and 0.1% study a book by a woman of colour. At most, 7% of students in England study a book by a woman at GCSE.
Some exam boards have started to take steps to improve this by including at least one writer of colour on set text lists at GCSE and A-level, but take-up by schools is slow and there is little appetite or incentive for change.
It is only now, as head of English, and having taught for 15 years, that I have the authority to insist that students study a book by a writer of colour at every key stage in the schools in which I teach, but the burden and desire for change can’t be left with teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds like me.
If we want to see an end to racism in this country and an end to the racially aggravated hatred we saw in the riots over the summer, we must begin by reviewing what is taught in our schools.
Thishani Wijesinghe
Guildford, Surrey
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