Saroj Lal was a pioneer, in so many ways. More than half a century ago, on 20 August 1970, she began teaching at Edinburgh’s South Morningside Primary School. She had been born and raised in British India, but moved to Scotland in the late 1960s when her husband, Amrit, took up a teaching position at Napier College.

She was among the earliest Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) teachers in the city, at a time when educators of colour were few and far between. Saroj left an enduring legacy, in terms of the impact on her pupils, the story of BAME teachers in Scotland, and the ongoing narrative around equality and diversity in education. It seems strange to think, given the debate around #BlackLivesMatter, and the current focus on slavery and decolonising the curriculum, that she began teaching only a couple of years after the assassination of Martin Luther King and the ensuing race riots across the USA.

It would be hard to underplay just how daunting life must have been for first-generation immigrants from South Asia at that time. They were not always assured of a warm welcome, even in Scotland with its reputation for tolerance, and making ends meet presented a........

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