Dr Aurora Herrera said there are ‘significant gaps in the UK’s knowledge of Caribbean history’
Date: 29 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 at London Met, said this would enable young people to better understand the connections between the British Empire, migration and the UK today.
Following the abolition of slavery across the British Empire, indentured servants were hired under temporary contracts but were exploited as a cheap source of forced labour, facing harsh conditions and restricted freedoms.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, nearly two million indentured labourers were transported to plantations in British colonies. Of these, approximately half a million workers from India and China were taken from Asia to the Caribbean under the British Empire’s indenture system.
'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 Herrera 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 Ameena Gafoor Institute for the Study of Indentureship and its Legacies welcomed the initiative.
David Dabydeen, director of the institute and 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature nominee, said: "For too long, the story of indentureship has been left out of how we teach British history. It shouldn't simply be a footnote to the abolition of slavery.
“The people who lived through indentureship had their own stories, struggles and contributions, and these deserve to be heard. Their experiences helped shape communities across the Caribbean and beyond, including here in Britain.
“Young people deserve to learn about this history and understand how it continues to shape the world around them.”
Launched during Black History Month, the campaign comes just days before the start of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean.
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.
Dr Aurora Herrera, an editorial member of the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network, has a journalism career in print and television spanning more than a decade.
She teaches broadcast journalism, reporting: news and features, writing for media, advanced reporting and making news for TV.