UK’s ‘strictest headmistress’ fears schools will stop teaching Shakespeare

Katharine Birbalsingh says move to decolonise English curriculum could mean Shakespeare replaced with black and female authors

The headteacher of a school described as the strictest in Britain has warned that William Shakespeare will disappear from classrooms as schools in England come under pressure to decolonise and diversify the curriculum.

Katharine Birbalsingh, the controversial headteacher at Michaela community school in north London, said Shakespeare had already been lost" in many places in the US and cautioned: We are following America in this way."