Dr Aurora Herera said there are ‘significant gaps in the UK’s knowledge of Caribbean history’
Date: 12 October 2026
An academic from London Metropolitan University has launched a petition to add the topic of indentureship to the English school curriculum.
Dr Aurora Herrera, a senior lecturer in the journalism department, said this would enable young people to understand the connections between the British Empire, migration and the UK today.
Between 1838 and 1917, approximately half a million indentured labourers from India and China were transported across the British Empire from Asia to the Caribbean.
Indentureship expanded after the abolition of slavery, when Britain recruited workers, particularly from India, to labour on plantations across its colonies. Many faced harsh conditions, restricted freedoms and exploitation.
'Significant gaps' in nation's knowledge of Caribbean history
The petition argues that teaching this history would help pupils better understand Britain’s colonial past and have a fuller understanding of the diverse communities that have shaped Britain today, such as the Indo-Caribbean and Chinese-Caribbean descendants of indentured labourers, who were also part of the Windrush generation.
Dr Herera said: “My research into how Caribbean communities are represented and understood has made clear that there are still significant gaps in our national knowledge of Caribbean history. Indentureship is one of those gaps.
“As I begin working with teachers and community groups, I am seeing both an appetite for this history and the importance of giving educators the confidence and resources to engage with it.
“This is about more than adding another historical episode to the classroom; it is about enabling young people to understand the connections between empire, migration and the Britain they live in today.
“A curriculum that reflects those connections can deepen historical understanding while ensuring that communities whose histories have too often sat at the margins of the national story are properly understood.”
The launch of the petition comes ahead of a widely expected government consultation on a proposed new curriculum for England.
The official petition, which is open until the end of March, will trigger a response from the Government if it reaches 10,000, and will be considered for debate in Parliament if it hits 100,000.
You can sign it here - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/780080
Dr Aurora Herrera is a senior lecturer in the journalism department at London Met. She is an editorial member of the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network, has a journalism career in print and television spanning more than a decade.
Dr Herera teaches broadcast journalism, reporting: news and features, writing for media, advanced reporting and making news for TV.