Schools in Cumbria excluded pupils for racist bullying on dozens of occasions last year, new figures reveal.
Anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate said a national rise in the number of exclusions due to racism is a concern, but that schools are clamping down on the behaviour.
Department for Education data shows Cumbria's schools excluded students 33 times for racist abuse in 2018-19.
That was up from 31 in the previous academic year.
All were fixed-term exclusions, also known as suspensions, where a pupil is temporarily removed. The figures include abuse by children at state-funded primary, secondary and special schools in the area.
It was a similar picture across the rest of England, where pupils were excluded for racist bullying on 4,900 occasions last year – a record high, and up from 4,300 in 2017-18.
Owen Jones, head of education at Hope Not Hate, said the number of additional racist abuse exclusions last year was "worrying".
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