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Lee Jasper: black-only schools will beat gangs
Rashid Razaq09.09.08
Lee Jasper has returned to the political limelight with a call for the creation of "all black" schools.
The former race adviser to Ken Livingstone resigned after allegations that he had channelled public money to groups to which he was linked personally.
Now Mr Jasper has advocated racebased schooling to tackle gang violence and raise education standards for black Caribbean students.
He said: "The fact is, it's time the black community ran its own schools, devised a curriculum that suited the needs of our children, employed teachers that look like the young people they are teaching.
"Some of the greatest black leaders in the world - Dr Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, to name just two - attended all-black schools and universities."
The ex-City Hall deputy claimed the schools would be a "beacon of excellence" for the black community and accused "liberals" of dismissing the idea while accepting faith-based education for Jewish, Muslim and Hindu children.
Mr Jasper said the schools would be open to all races but would be "focused in terms of their ethos, ethics and curriculum to the needs of our children". He added: "I'm not arguing here for a BNP-style 'apartheid education system'. I'm talking about the vision of establishing inclusive beacons of black academic excellence."
His comments come after a study suggested black Caribbean students are less likely to be entered for highertier science and maths exams because of low teacher expectations.
Police are still investigating the funding of five organisations, all granted London Development Agency cash, and Mr Jasper's involvement.
Mr Jasper resigned in March from the former mayor's staff after sending sexually charged emails to a married woman, who was also receiving public money.
The former race and policy adviser escaped personal criticism in an LDA audit report in July, but panel chairwoman Patience Wheatcroft said that his actions were part of a police investigation.
The report said it had not carried out "an extended review of the influence exerted by mayoral advisers".
It added that investigators had found "ineptitude rather than corruption" in advisers dealing with the LDA.
Ms Wheatcroft said: "We are not giving Mr Jasper's actions a clean bill of health. That's something that the Met is looking at."
Mr Jasper claimed he had been exonerated and added that he was " gobsmacked" because he had expected the Tory-dominated panel to be critical of him.
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