A supplementary school is a community-based initiative to provide additional educational support for children also attending mainstream schools. They are often geared to provide specific language, cultural and religious teaching for children from ethnic minorities.[1]
A movement for Black supplementary schools started in Britain in the mid-1960s, first among the African-Caribbean communities, and then among other African communities. After a leaked report from the Inner London Education Authority revealed that children of West Indian immigrants were being labelled "Educationally Sub-Normal" (ESN), educationist Bernard Coard published his 1971 book How the West Indian Child is Made Educationally Sub-normal in the British School System, which led to parents setting up supplementary Saturday schools to support their children's education.[2] [3] The movement arose from the view that racism was holding children from African-Caribbean communities back, and the schools primarily addressed two issues: the provision of basic education, along with a specific cultural programme.[4] The George Padmore Institute maintains an archive of material relating to this movement.[5]
Hoshū jugyō kō are Japanese supplementary schools in developed overseas countries supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.[6]