UK: Exam board apologises and withdraws GCSE psychology textbook featuring cartoon of black tribe cooking a white missionary in a pot

What was once an amusing image is no longer

An exam board that approved a textbook that included a cartoon of black people cooking a white missionary in a pot above a question about cannibals has apologised.

AQA - one of the UK's three main examination bodies - said that the GCSE psychology textbook should never have been approved.

The section in the book - published by Illuminate Publishing in 2017 - was first highlighted by Lizzie Jordan, founder of Think2Speak, an organisation that mentors young people.

'The five authors, the proofreader, the editor, the publisher, the printer, the educator — the myriad of hands this will have gone through before being a resource in a child's hands,' Jordan said to The Times. 'I can't understand how stuff like that gets printed.'

The picture in the book was a cartoon of two white missionaries, captured by a group of black men said to be cannibals.

The question accompanying the image reads: 'Three missionaries and three cannibals are trying to cross a river, however at no time can there be more cannibals than missionaries on either bank or in the boat. How can they do this?'

The wider context around the image and question was a discussion about how a group working together could generate more ideas than individuals working along.

Illuminate Publishing said in a statement: 'We apologise unreservedly and have withdrawn the book from sale. We are replacing the image and example and are disposing of existing stock. We are deeply sorry for any offence caused.'

An AQA representative added: 'We have zero tolerance of racism. There are no excuses and we're sorry.'

SOURCE