News Desk :
A headteacher has been forced to apologise after she blamed a number of Bangladeshi families for increasing the risk of Covid-19 infections at a primary school in England, reports The Daily Mail, reports bdnews24.com
.Karen Todd, who is in charge of Richard Avenue Primary School in Sunderland, faced backlash this week after stating in a letter to parents that she felt “totally let down” by those in the Bangladeshi community.
She suggested adults could be working as taxi drivers or in restaurants while awaiting the results of Covid-19 tests, adding that others are allegedly attending wedding ceremonies at home and hosting Mehndi nights ‘against the law’.
The headteacher later apologised and taken full responsibility for any offence caused after furious parents and community leaders said they felt “singled-out” and stereotyped as rule-breakers by the note, according to the report.
Todd claimed in the letter, sent on Nov 3, that some adults were making a series of “totally irresponsible decisions” which had “increased the risk” of Covid-19 transmission to pupils, staff and their families.
The teacher, who has worked at the school for more than ten years, listed the activities these adults had allegedly taken part in ‘against the law’, including attending weddings inside homes and sharing cars without wearing masks.
Her list also included attending Mehndi nights, when Asian brides meet their friends and family before the wedding to paint their bodies with intricate Henna patterns.
Todd, who recently visited Bangladesh, said in her letter: “I am not trying [to] act as the COVID police, but when your actions impact on my school community and potentially people’s lives, I am going to get involved,” she added.
The letter sparked a furious backlash from parents and community leaders in Sunderland, which has an estimated Bangladeshi population of 7,000. Richard Avenue Primary School educated 258 children in the 2018/19 academic year who did not have English as a first language-around 62 percent of its 421 pupils.
A Public Health England report revealed in June that Britons of Bangladeshi ethnicity have around twice the risk of white Britons of dying from the coronavirus, The Daily Mail said in the report.
A headteacher has been forced to apologise after she blamed a number of Bangladeshi families for increasing the risk of Covid-19 infections at a primary school in England, reports The Daily Mail, reports bdnews24.com
.Karen Todd, who is in charge of Richard Avenue Primary School in Sunderland, faced backlash this week after stating in a letter to parents that she felt “totally let down” by those in the Bangladeshi community.
She suggested adults could be working as taxi drivers or in restaurants while awaiting the results of Covid-19 tests, adding that others are allegedly attending wedding ceremonies at home and hosting Mehndi nights ‘against the law’.
The headteacher later apologised and taken full responsibility for any offence caused after furious parents and community leaders said they felt “singled-out” and stereotyped as rule-breakers by the note, according to the report.
Todd claimed in the letter, sent on Nov 3, that some adults were making a series of “totally irresponsible decisions” which had “increased the risk” of Covid-19 transmission to pupils, staff and their families.
The teacher, who has worked at the school for more than ten years, listed the activities these adults had allegedly taken part in ‘against the law’, including attending weddings inside homes and sharing cars without wearing masks.
Her list also included attending Mehndi nights, when Asian brides meet their friends and family before the wedding to paint their bodies with intricate Henna patterns.
Todd, who recently visited Bangladesh, said in her letter: “I am not trying [to] act as the COVID police, but when your actions impact on my school community and potentially people’s lives, I am going to get involved,” she added.
The letter sparked a furious backlash from parents and community leaders in Sunderland, which has an estimated Bangladeshi population of 7,000. Richard Avenue Primary School educated 258 children in the 2018/19 academic year who did not have English as a first language-around 62 percent of its 421 pupils.
A Public Health England report revealed in June that Britons of Bangladeshi ethnicity have around twice the risk of white Britons of dying from the coronavirus, The Daily Mail said in the report.
