UK’s Citizenship Test

Why in news?

Historians have called on the United Kingdom’s Home Office to review its citizenship test.

What is the citizenship test?

What is the issue with this handbook?

In this official handbook, the Britain’s history was retold in such a manner that it sanitises the nation’s violent and brutal past.
The handbook contains misleading and false representation of history during Britain’s colonisation.
This representation may be difficult for citizenship applicants from nations that were former British colonies.

What are the objections to this test?

In an open letter, 181 signatories have called for a review of this test.
They want a review because the handbook, on which this test is based upon, is fundamentally misleading and demonstrably false.
The test appears to glorify Britain’s colonial past, say the historians.

What are the highlighted examples?

The handbook states that while slavery was illegal within Britain itself, by the 18th century, it was a fully established overseas industry.
The historians say that whether slavery was legal or illegal within Britain in the 18th century was a matter of debate.
The handbook does not mention about the three million people who were transported as slaves and that people died during these journeys.
It states that in the 20th century, there was an orderly transition from Empire to Commonwealth, with countries given their independence.
The historians say that decolonisation was not an ‘orderly’ but an often-violent process.
The handbook promotes the misleading view that the Empire ended simply because the British decided it was the right thing to do.
Similarly, the abolition of slavery is treated as a British achievement, in which enslaved people themselves played no part.
The historians state that people of colour and people in colonies also have not been adequately represented in this retelling of history.
Their contributions to the development and growth of Britain have been entirely omitted in the handbook.

Was the Home Office’s citizenship test handbook ever revised?

Given the handbook’s latest edition was published in 2013, the presence of these inaccuracies are even more troubling.
The handbook is not just a relic that has been continuously used without consciousness about these factual errors and misstatements.
Conversations regarding historical inaccuracy and the whitewashing of Britain’s colonial past were very much occurring in 2012-2013.
This was the time when the process for republishing the handbook in an updated edition had started.
Despite this, the Home Office had made no attempts to consider its own role in regurgitating convenient, white-washed retellings of history.
Historical knowledge is and should be an essential part of citizenship.
However, historical falsehood and misrepresentation should not.

Why is the handbook problematic?

For applicants from former colonies with knowledge of imperial violence, this account is offensive.
For those from outside the former Empire without prior education in history, the official handbook creates a distorted view of the British past.
For British citizens in general, the official history perpetuates a misleading view of how we came to be who we are.

What has been the Home Office’s response?

It appears that the Home Office has taken note of the letter.
A Home Office spokesperson said that the Office would keep its contents under review and consider any feedback that they receive.
But, it was not clear if the concerns highlighted in this specific letter were going to be considered by the Home Office.
This comes at a time when the Black Lives Matter movement has led to widespread protests across the UK and Europe.

Source: The Indian Express