Teachers from Libya have been invited to visit pupils in Lockerbie as teachers seek to change perceptions around its tragic past.
Lockerbie Primary’s deputy head, Karen Carter, wants the world to know there is more to the Dumfriesshire town than just the place where a bomb went off overhead in 1988.
The attack on Pan Am 103 was traced back to Libya and in 2001 intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of murdering 270 people – all 259 victims on the flight and 11 residents of Lockerbie.
Educators from Palestine, Turkey, Lithuania, Germany and Russia have already visited the school as part of the £38million Connecting Classroom scheme set up by the British Council and the Department for International Development through its Global Learning programme.
Karen said: “The fact Lockerbie is so well known for its tragic history isn’t a good thing.
“I really want other people around the world to see that there’s more to Lockerbie.
“The best way to do this is to teach the kids that Lockerbie’s history doesn’t define them and that there’s a great big world full of culture out there.”
Lockerbie Primary is one of more than 700 UK schools – 28 of them in Scotland – taking part in Connecting Classrooms.
The programme focuses on children aged seven to 14 and supports partnerships with schools in 29 countries including African countries such as Libya, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Nigeria, plus nations in Asia and the Middle East.
Karen added: “Partnerships with schools across the world are so valuable.
“The whole school benefits when the teachers from around the world are here.”
Megrahi was released early from a life sentence in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer and died in Libya in 2012.
Darren Coyle, of the British Council, said: “We’re proud of Lockerbie Primary’s work and hope more schools will sign up.”
