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UK whites a minority in London classrooms
Dominic Hayes, Evening Standard28.09.07
White British-born children are now the minority in many London schools, official figures showed today.
In Tower Hamlets, 15 per cent of primary school pupils are classed as white British, while 63 per cent of their classmates come from Bangladeshi families.
Tories said the figures, released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, showed the changes were putting pressure on schools, which had to make sure those who did not speak English learned as soon as possible.
Conservative immigration spokesman Damian Green said: "If they can't, and they are being taught in overcrowded classrooms, this makes it much harder for teachers to do their job."
While Asians now make up the majority of young children in several areas of London, others remain overwhelmingly white.
In Newham, just under 12 per cent of primary pupils are white British, while the figure in Brent's secondaries is seven per cent, compared with 36 per cent who are classed as Asian, and 24 per cent black. Outside London, areas with the highest concentrations of ethnic minority pupils included Bradford, where 53 per cent of the primary school children are classed as white British.
In Blackburn and Manchester, less than 60 per cent of primary pupils were white British and in Birmingham the figure was 43 per cent. In Leicester, 41 per cent were white British, compared with 38 per cent of primary pupils who were Asian. Nationally, 21.9 per cent of primary school children were from ethnic minority backgrounds, up from 20.6 per cent last year. There was a similar rise in secondary schools.
In rural areas, the school population was almost entirely white. In Devon, 95 per cent of primary pupils were white British. The number of primary school pupils who do not speak English as their first language increased by about seven per cent on last year's figures to 447,000, or about one child in seven. Figures at secondary level showed a similar rise in pupils not speaking English as their first language to 342,000 in total.
When special schools are included, 798,110 pupils in England's state schools do not speak English as their first language. This is out of a total of 7.3 million children attending state schools. Schools minister Jim Knight said teachers were being given help to cope with children whose first language is not English.
Reader views (9)
I am a minority (I'm white) in all of my classes at richmond upon thames college and feel very much marginalised for this as I can't exactly go to my tutor and say people have been racist against me when they have as in the eyes of the bureaucracy you can't be racist to white people. This creates a problem when we are confronted by the news in this article as it begs the question how well will the future minorities rights be protected by the present minorities.
As for white flight... I'm moving to canada next year.
- Joseph, London, UK
UK whites can prevent becoming a minority only if they maintain their fertility rates. It would really be sad if UK becomes white-minority.
- Anand, Argentina
Well it just goes to show immigration is now transforming into colonisation and the treacherous politicians are allowing it to happen.
- Paul, Epsom
And all this is leading...where?
- Xenophon, Atlanta, GA USA
It's a bit unfair to draw conclusions of language problems due to the Non-White British population. A large proportion of us English-speaking Londoners are black, Asian or mixed race. While similarly, a large proportion of the non-English speaking immigrants to London are white (i.e. Poles and other Eastern Europeans).
Also, it's not a case that only white Brits are fleeing the cities. Everyone moves out into the suburbs and further-afield, eventually. It's just that the majority of the cities' older population are white.
- Biggeur, North West London, UK
Incredibly enlightening article.
- Finbar Bryson, Nottingham, UK
Why is this a problem? Have I missed something.
And speaking another language is generally seen as a plus.
- Padraic Finn, London
The human race is an amazing thing... the more things change the more they stay the same!
- R., NC. USA`
It's not rocket science, is it? White Brits are fleeing the cities, myself included.
- Jay, London, UK
