The number of schools participating in Holocaust Memorial Day observances has dramatically decreased by half since the attacks on October 7, three years ago.
According to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, over 2,000 secondary schools were involved in Holocaust Memorial Day events in 2023.
Between 2019 and 2023, there was a consistent annual increase in the number of schools observing the day on January 27.
However, participation dropped significantly last year, with only 854 schools taking part in the commemorations, marking a 60 percent decline following the Hamas attack in Israel.
In 2024, the number of participating schools fell by about 800, and in 2025, another 350 schools withdrew from the events. The UK has approximately 4,200 secondary schools in total.
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, expressed concern that educators might be opting for the “path of least resistance” by choosing not to honor the event.
He added: ‘Holocaust Memorial Day is not a platform for political debate. It is not an endorsement of any government, perspective or conflict. It is an act of human memory.
‘I fear for what will happen this year. For if we cannot teach our children to remember the past with integrity and resolve, then we must ask ourselves what kind of future they will inherit.’
More than 1,200 people were killed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack that resulted in hundreds being taken hostage.
The Prince and Princess of Wales attended a Holocaust Memorial Day event in 2025
The Houses of Parliament lit up in purple light during International Holocaust Remembrance Day last year
They fired thousands of rockets before breaching the border fence in dozens of places using explosives, bulldozers, and motorbikes.
The militants then stormed into nearby Israeli communities, killing civilians in their homes and on the streets.
Olivia Marks, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, told The Sunday Times it was important for teachers to organise lessons and classroom activities to mark the occasion.
The trust was set up by the government in 2005 to remember the murder and suffering of Jews during the Second World War.
Each year the trust brings a new theme in the resources it sends to schools across the country. The theme for 2026 is ‘bridging generations’.
It comes after a Jewish MP was ‘banned’ from visiting a school in his constituency amid fears his presence would ‘inflame teachers’.
Labour MP Damien Egan’s trip to Bristol Brunel Academy in September was cancelled after a campaign by far-left protesters from Bristol’s National Education Union (NEU) branch and its local Palestine Solidarity Campaign group.
The Bristol North East MP was barred because of ‘safeguarding concerns’ after the activists, who claimed to be representing the views of teachers, parents, and residents, highlighted his links to the Labour Friends of Israel group.
Westminster Abbey’s glass chandeliers are lit in purple to mark Holocaust Memorial Day in 2025
Activists described it as a win for ‘safeguarding, solidarity, and for the power of the NEU trade union staff group, parents, and campaigners standing together’.
One NEU representative said teachers were planning to wear keffiyehs into the school on the day of his visit and were planning ‘work that members could do with students in preparation’ before it was cancelled.
In 2021, the union’s now general secretary, Daniel Kebede, was accused of antisemitism after was filmed calling to ‘globalise the intifada’, a chant recognised as an incitement to violence against Jews and banned by the Met Police.
Mr Egan, a vice chair of Labour Friends of Israel, has faced repeated threats by anti-Israel activists since becoming an MP in 2024.
He has been offered enhanced security because he is married to Israeli Yossi Felberbaum who served in the military.
Mr Egan was born in Cork before moving with his family as a child to live in the Kingswood constituency in Gloucestershire.
A spokesperson for Bristol Brunel Academy said: ‘Damien Egan MP – as a high-achieving alumnus of the CLF, and in common with other local MPs from across the political spectrum – was invited in September to visit Bristol Brunel Academy, a secondary school situated in his constituency of Bristol North East.
‘Mr Egan was due to discuss democracy and the role of an MP, while helping to raise aspirations among students who may have an interest in pursuing similar career paths.
‘On the evening before Mr Egan’s scheduled visit, we were made aware of plans for a public protest outside the school. As this protest was scheduled to coincide with the end in the school day, we opted to postpone Mr Egan’s visit to ensure everyone would continue to feel safe when entering and exiting school and to prevent any disruption to our students’ learning.
‘We have remained in contact with Mr Egan, and an alternative date for his visit was arranged some time ago. We have also been in contact with the police and followed their advice.’
