A new BBC documentary has revealed how hundreds of black children were wrongly sent to schools for the 'emotionally subnormal' in the 1960s and 70s because of 'rampant racism'.
Subnormal: A British Scandal, which airs tonight on BBC2 at 9pm, explores how students who were incorrectly deemed to have a limited intellectual ability where sent to ESN schools, which categorised them as having moderate to severe learning disabilities or being 'un-teachable'.
Black children were labelled 'thick and unintelligent' because they 'couldn't speak the Queen's English', and were prevented from pursuing any further education after leaving the ESN schools.
Many report that there was no real effort to educate them and that they were allowed to play non-educational games, not taught basic literacy and numeracy, and left school with no prospects.