Raheem Bailey: Wales schools must tackle bullying, racism robustly - minister

Wales' education minister has told every school it must tackle bullying and racism head on, after a pupil lost a finger reportedly fleeing bullies.

Jeremy Miles said schools have to take a "robust" approach, and an anti-racism plan will be published soon.

Raheem Bailey, 11, had surgery after catching his finger on a fence at his school, but it could not be saved.

One charity said the lack of mandatory anti-bullying training in Wales was "deeply worrying".

On Tuesday First Minister Mark Drakeford, who called the case "shocking", rejected a call for an inquiry into racism in schools.

• Boy, 11, loses finger allegedly fleeing bullies

• Police probe injuries suffered by schoolboy, 11

• How to deal with racist bullying in school

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Mr Miles said the police and local council were conducting an investigation, but stressed action was needed to prevent future incidents.

"Every school in Wales should have a robust approach to bullying and harassment and a robust approach to racist incidents.

"We'd been working across government on an anti-racist Wales action plan and my colleague, (Social Justice Minister) Jane Hutt, will be publishing that in the coming weeks and there's a role for schools in doing more in relation to that."

What happened to Raheem?

Raheem underwent six hours of surgery to try and save his finger

Raheem's mother Shantal said her son, a pupil at Abertillery Learning Community in Blaenau Gwent, had been subjected to "racial and physical abuse" at the school.

Ms Bailey has said her son was "attacked" on Tuesday 17 May by a group of children who kicked him when he was on the floor.

She said Raheem has been trying to flee the when he caught his finger on a fence, which then needed to be amputated.

Ms Bailey said her son was "truly brave" but had been in "utter agony". She said she was just happy that he is alive.

Mr Miles said it was "shocking" to hear what happened to Raheem.

"Let's be absolutely clear, racist bullying and harassment, actually, any kind of bullying and harassment is completely unacceptable," he said.

"There is no place for it in our schools in Wales. There's no place for it anyway in our society."

Several celebrities and sports starts have reached out to Raheem to offer support, including former boxing heavyweight world champions Anthony Joshua and footballer Jadon Sancho.

Dragons rugby player Ashton Hewitt - who also experienced racism at Raheem's age - said he would like to meet Raheem to reassure him that "he's not in the wrong and he should be proud of who he is".

Ashton Hewitt said that experiencing racism at Raheem's age is sadly "far from uncommon"

"I think there needs to be specific training around racism and how to deal with racist incidents," said Hewitt.

"I think there'll be a lot of teachers out there who aren't comfortable in dealing with racist incidents when it comes under bullying in that sense."

He added that he thinks more diversity in teaching staff in Wales would also have a "huge impact".

"Perhaps if there was more black teachers, young black boys and young black girls would have the confidence to go to a teacher if they were being threatened with detention, allegedly, on other occasions by other teachers."

Raheem is recovering at home following his surgery

Laruen Seager Smith, chief executive of Kidscape - a charity funded by the Welsh government to give training to school leaders and governors on anti-bullying - said it was "deeply worrying" that teachers and school leaders did not have any mandatory anti-bullying training in Wales.

"I think it's really shocking to a lot of people that you can become a teacher or headteacher without any training in anti-bullying - when it's so fundamental when it comes to children's rights," she told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"Unless this is made an absolute priority - this is mandatory, this is what you have to put in place, you have to have this training - sadly you will see a difference between schools.

"If you're really going to tackle racist bullying - and other forms of identity bullying - it takes really significant resource and the government have acknowledged they do need to do more work in that area."

Racism in schools 'not unique'

Speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price raised calls, originally made in a report by Show Racism The Red Card in 2020, for an inquiry into racism in schools.

He suggested an inquiry could review anti-racism training, resources for educators, data collection, bullying policies and inspection group Estyn's role in monitoring.

Mr Price said Raheem Bailey's experience is "sadly by no means unique in Wales", citing a survey in the report that found 25% of teachers had observed, responded to or had a pupil report racial discrimination in the previous 12 months.

The same survey found 63% of pupils said they or someone they knew had been a target of racism.

"No incidents of bullying, whatever their motivation are acceptable in schools in Wales," said Mr Drakeford.

Rejecting the call for an inquiry, Mr Drakeford said the Welsh government's anti-racist action plan, to be published next month, will include a "significant section dealing with anti-racist action" in education.

 "I myself am more interested in making sure that we can take those actions, actions we have agreed with so many voices with lived experience who have helped us create that plan, than I am in yet another inquiry."