SOAS President calls for diversity and reform of English literature in schools

SOAS University of London President Zeinab Badawi has joined a host of authors and publishers in calling on ministers to reform the current English literature syllabus in schools across the country.

In an open letter seen by The Financial Times, she shared her sentiment with 180 authors and publishers on the need for education, specifically in the English literature curriculum to be more reflective of social diversity:

We need diverse perspectives of major historic events otherwise we will miss critical factors leading to a prejudicial and partial understanding of the past.

Signatories of the letter also included authors Lee Child, Malorie Blackman, and Ali Smith – with support from publisher Penguin Random House and the Black Writers Guild. 

Badawi’s book ‘An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence’, published earlier this year was a Sunday Times bestseller and sheds an even greater light on the historical context and anthropology of Africa, which in the past been underrepresented by western narratives.