This is the first national study into the discrimination facing Hindu youth in the UK. It seeks to begin to understand what anti-Hindu hate looks like and the extent to which it is manifesting in the UK by initially looking at the prevalence of discrimination against Hindu pupils in schools.  The report finds that 51% of Hindu parents surveyed reported that their child had experienced anti-Hindu hate in schools, while less than 1% of schools surveyed reported any anti-Hindu related incidents in the last 5 years. Only 19% of Hindu parents surveyed believe schools are able to identify anti-Hindu hate. 8 physical assaults were detailed. One female Hindu pupil had beef thrown on her, a male student was reported to have to change East London schools three times on account of anti-Hindu bullying and concerns have been risen around a problematic approach to teaching Hinduism that is directly leading to bullying in the classroom.

Join author of the report and HJS Research Fellow Charlotte Littlewood, education specialist Dr Rishi Handa and Baroness Verma for the first deep look at the findings and discussion of the recommendations at the launch of our paper on anti-Hindu hate in schools. We will explore the extent of the problem, the failings of schools in monitoring and addressing unfamiliar forms of hate and the ways forward towards a more cohesive and tolerant UK.

Dr Rishi Handa is a teacher for over 25 years and currently serves as Head of Sanskrit, Head of Religious Studies and Philosophy, and teacher of mathematics and ancient Greek at St James Senior Boys’ School in London. He is also a teacher of Hindu mysticism at Temenos Academy.

Rishi earned a BSc in Mathematics with Theoretical Physics before going on to complete an MA at SOAS, where he majored in Hindu jurisprudence and minored in Indian Philosophy. His PhD research in the study of religions focused on the nature of “religiosity” and “religious” identities in Panjab prior and due to colonialism.

Presently, Rishi is creating a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training programme that aims to assist religious studies educators in comprehending and instructing Indian “religions” via a framework that more accurately reflects Indic sensibilities, in contrast to the western and Abrahamic approaches currently used. He has been a public speaker on religion and mysticism, engaged in public debates at universities, and participated in interfaith events.

Charlotte Littlewood is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. She is a PhD candidate in Arab and Islamic studies with the University of Exeter University. Her research focuses on minority within Muslim minority conflict in the UK, in particular the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the extent to which the UK is able to support this community.

Charlotte started her career as a Prevent practitioner on behalf of the UK government, going on to be a Counter-Extremism Coordinator for an East London Borough. From this Charlotte went on to found her own community interest company with the aim of countering extremism and promoting equality. She developed and took projects that focused on women’s rights and tackling domestic violence to the West Bank, Palestine. Alongside this she consulted for Muslims Against Antisemitism, working towards greater tolerance and cohesion between communities in the UK.

Charlotte has a LLB in Law and MA in Security and Strategy.

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The Rt Hon Baroness Verma is a highly influential, both as an outward facing global business leader and within the numerous political positions she has held.

Since entering the House of Lords in 2006, she has held several key Ministerial appointments, in Government and opposition. Baroness Verma is adept at leading teams from the front, strong in strategy development and transformational change. She has significant experience in chairing committees both in the private and public sectors.  Baroness Verma is self-assured, confident in decision making and wise enough to build strong teams around her.

A strong and committed advocate of diversity and inclusion, she is involved in a wealth of influential initiatives to create a more inclusive working environment and society. She has led from the front specifically on gender and race discriminations, both in her political position as well as in her many roles on committees. Baroness Verma was the Prime Minister’s Ministerial global champion for tackling violence against women and girls when was a government minister.

Baroness Verma has received numerous accolades over the years, as a business leader, politician and champion on rights and access to opportunities. She doesn’t shy away from being forthright and honest but has always embraced the art of cooperative support as the most successful way to achieve results.

She co-founded Powerful Women, when as an energy minister she saw the lack of senior women in the energy sector, which has helped changed the way women are supported in the sector. She is Chair of UN Women UK, the national committee of UN Women, the only UN organisation that focuses specifically on women and girls. She is a Chancellor of Roehampton University and sits on the governing council of Southampton University.

Baroness Verma is an independent director on the Afrinex Stock Exchange of Mauritius and an advisor on a number of business bodies.

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EVENT SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society was delighted to launch researcher Charlotte Littlewood’s new report titled “Anti-Hindu Hate in Schools”, the first national study into the discrimination facing Hindu youth in the UK. The Rt Hon Baroness Verma hosted the discussion, firstly offering a brief summary to the event’s purpose and her own experiences of discrimination. HJS’ Charlotte Littlewood was then invited to present her reports findings and recommendations to the audience. Charlotte described how the conflict in Leicester between Hindu and Muslim communities last autumn inspired her to research anti-Hindu hate. Charlotte then overviewed why schools was chosen as the sampled group, how the research was conducted and why such little work has been done on the issue. The final panellist Dr Rishi Handa, was then asked to express his experience and knowledge of anti-Hindu hate in schools. Dr Handa started with a personal anecdote, detailing how a fellow teacher was struggling to find decent material to explain the Hindu faith in order for her to teach her students and agreed with Charlotte, that the solution to the misunderstanding of Hinduism is educational reform. Dr Handa argues that this education is not only needed for the concepts of Hinduism but also to offer a framework to better understand religion in general. After an insightful Q&A between the panellists and the audience, Rt Hon Baroness Verma closed the discussion by thanking Dr Handa for his knowledge and insight and congratulating Charlotte for her report.

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