Black history to be made mandatory in Welsh schools

Wales is set to become the first nation in the U.K. to make Black history a mandatory part of the school curriculum.

This comes a year after Black Lives Matter protests across Britain called on the government and institutions to face up to the country's legacy of slavery and empire.

At one multicultural primary school in the Welsh capital Cardiff, students have been writing speeches inspired by Martin Luther King.

"Our children need to see themselves reflected in the curriculum," schoolteacher Shubnam Aziz told British broadcaster Sky News. "How is it that Cardiff Bay is so diverse?"

But a diverse curriculum isn't just important for multicultural parts of Wales, said Kojo Hazel, a Black schoolteacher at a mostly white school in the South Wales Valleys.

He's been teaching his students about the Black Lives Matter movement and the history of Black athletes.

"It's my job really, certainly as a role model for these pupils here, to be able to teach them about what's outside the Valleys," he explained.

The new curriculum, in which the history of Black and other ethnic minority communities will be incorporated across subjects, is set to enter force in 2022, according to Sky News.