The Reform UK leader Accuses Teachers of ‘Indoctrinating Children’ on Race Issues
Nigel Farage has asserted that teachers would go on strike within weeks a Reform UK election victory, charging that they are “harming young minds” by instructing children that black pupils are victims and white children oppressors.
At a gathering for a Michigan-based religious institution, the politician expressed his viewpoint on British schools, stating that the “Marxist left” had “taken over schooling”.
“I expect a teachers’ strike soon after securing a victory,” he remarked in response to questions.
“They are poisoning our kids. They are telling them to feel guilt about their nation. They are telling little Johnny, who’s eight, who is black that he is oppressed and a white child of the same age that he is a perpetrator. They create division, not uniting us. They are feeding this harmful mindset.”
Reacting to Farage’s claims, the head of a major education union dismissed the idea that the education system was controlled by Marxists as “nonsense”. He pointed out that industrial action must relate to educators’ working conditions, and doubted whether the party would target these right after taking office.
“The politician has crafted his public life on dog-whistle politics and now, similar to other figures, he is lining up teachers and their organizations for a fight,” Kebede stated.
“I think that’s grossly irresponsible. I don’t – and nor does my union – push critical race theory as he’s suggesting … Should he become prime minister he would sell out our public services, particularly schooling … and he would be a disaster for education and children.”
The party, which tops surveys by a significant margin, has not set out much detail on its educational plans and seems not to have appointed an education spokesperson.
Nonetheless, his comments suggested the party would overhaul the educational framework. Farage declared: “We face an enormous task with schooling – absolutely herculean. And, we can’t do it in six months or a year; it requires years, a long-term effort to reform.”
Farage expressed that younger generations are receptive to critical thinking, but millennials were “absolutely hopeless”.
Paying tribute to a conservative activist, Farage said: “All I want education to do to foster independent thought – to educate individuals that multiple perspectives exist and they should decide for themselves rather than current practices where one is virtuous and one is evil. This is a huge undertaking in both Britain and America.”
Reform has previously clashed with the UK’s largest teaching union, after Kebede called the party “extremist and prejudiced” and described the leader as “a cheap imitation”.
Farage has accused Kebede of being “an avowed radical” … someone who is absolutely determined that our children should be poisoned through education, their minds should be poisoned regarding national issues” and has argued that the organization seeks to brainwash teenagers against Reform.
Almost one million people are employed in education in the UK, about half of whom are teachers and the others teaching assistants and support staff. The major education union has hundreds of thousands of members.
Countrywide walkouts over educators’ salaries and work environment in 2023 led to significant interruptions in schools and millions of days of lost learning for students.
At the US event, the Reform leader also pledged to help spread the digital courses of the institution in the UK. He stated such groups were “key to resistance”, noting: “I mean this. I will help attract vast numbers of young people to these educational programs. I make that commitment tonight and I will follow through.”
The college, a small private Christian college, offers free courses. Its website states: “A scientific, literary, theological, political, and moral education is necessary for personal happiness and to perpetuate the blessings of freedom. It offers these beautiful courses for free to every interested learner.”