The director for equality at Education Leeds is to speak at a memorial service in honour of Stephen Lawrence.

Rehana Minhas - who has led on the development of the city’s Stephen Lawrence Education Standard, created to embrace racial equality and diversity in the school curriculum - will speak at the service at the Stephen Lawrence Centre in London on Thursday (22 April).

The standard was established 10 years ago in Leeds and received national recognition earlier this year when it was launched by the government as an initiative available to schools across the country to help promote equality amongst pupils.

Doreen Lawrence OBE, who was a special guest at the launch and gave a speech to those who attended, invited Education Leeds to speak at the event to promote the Stephen Lawrence Educational Standard in London.

Rehana Minhas, director of equality and entitlement at Education Leeds, said:
“It’s a privilege to be invited to speak at the memorial service for Stephen Lawrence. Out of the tragedy and sadness that surrounded his death, there has been a lot of excellent work to promote equality and to show that racism – or any form of discrimination – is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

“The Stephen Lawrence Education Standard is promoting these messages in schools across Leeds and now, thanks to the government’s national recognition, children and young people across the country are also benefiting.

“Doreen Lawrence has asked that the standard is launched for schools in south London at the memorial service. This is a great tribute to the impact of the standard to promote equality and community cohesion.”

The remembrance event was organised by the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust and will be attended by schools from across London as well as voluntary organisations and other education experts.