After witnessing the misconceptions and stereotypes around Black, African and Caribbean students during university placements, one woman took it upon herself to make changes in the community. Shanine Fasasi has set up a charity to diversify education and promote integration in communities - and she has many big plans for the future.
The Diversifying Education Community Interest Company was formed six years ago by Shanine. She leads the charity from the Renewal Trust Business Centre on Carlton Road, Nottingham.
Along with volunteers, many community initiatives take place and Shanine supports parents and schools. Speaking about the charity's main goal, Shanine said: “The aim of Diversifying Education is to celebrate culture and bring people together. At university and as a teacher, I’ve experienced racism and discrimination.
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“My university dissertation project was to innovate the curriculum with something that’s never been done before. I decided on diversifying education - it was originally called love and diversity.”
Shanine, who did her Master's at Northumbria University, still uses her dissertation from 2017 as reference when she’s working. She did school placements while doing her teacher training in areas such as Newcastle and County Durham where there was a “low population of Black, African and Caribbean cultures”.
Shanine spoke more about what her charity work entails. She said: “I accompany parents to meetings where there might be concern for the child - schools still have misconceptions about black children, especially black boys who we want to support. The support will have to be given in a subtle way as they don’t want to be identified as having mental health problems.”
Originally from St Vincent, where she said mental health “is not accepted”, Shanine added: “The stereotyping of young black boys is breaking them and their parents down. I’ve seen it and the parents are at their wits' ends. Going into schools where they want to stick to one agenda and don’t want to budge to the side of the parent or child makes me feel more sorry for the child. I described one boy once as a ‘broken vase’ - schools need to do more to understand children individually
“I’ve had a class of 31 students before who were all unique and if you called their name out to me, I could tell you what their uniqueness is.” Shanine added: “Everyday is different - I support schools with culture diversity training and resources for educational purposes.”
Shanine ensures that schools have diverse resources including books. One thing she would like to see more of is a more diverse school dinner menu. In collaboration with Nottingham Women’s Centre, Diversifying Education also has a women’s sewing group for women at risk.
The women’s group meets on Monday and Wednesdays at the centre. Shanine said: “When we started the group in September, the women never knew one another - they’re a mixed group and behave like a family.
“They’re supporting each other and celebrating their successes. At first, some of them weren’t sure about the group - and now, they can’t wait for Wednesdays.
“Community is really important to us. We had an Iftar in the community for Ramadan - the best part of that for me was seeing people who didn’t know each other praying and having conversation with one another. It was wonderful - it was a good project to raise awareness and educate on why people fast.”
In a “leap of faith”, the charity’s bid to rent a property in Beechdale has been successful. In the new premises, Shanine and volunteers have plans to reach out to more of the community, including young people. There are also plans for a community garden, book corner, cooking lessons, money management and more.
Shanine added: “If you don’t provide opportunities and platforms for young people to showcase their skills, no one will know of their talents, including them." Azuraye Williams is diversity lead for multiple trusts in the UK. She said: “The work that charities like Diversify Education do is extremely beneficial to schools and their curriculum. Every child should be able to not only see themselves in education but to also learn from and respect other people and their cultures. The work that they do is empowering to so many children.
“I am so proud to be a part of a trust that values this and to see this in other schools across Nottingham is amazing.”
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