John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella following the lives of two migrant workers during the Great Depression has been axed from the Welsh GCSE curriculum amid concerns about racism and the use of racial slurs.

The Welsh exam board WJEC says Of Mice and Men will no longer be studied by secondary school students from September 2025.

Alongside Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, it will be replaced by a “wide range” of “appropriate and inclusive texts”, making up a brand-new English language and literature GCSE.

Children’s Commissioner for Wales Rocio Cifuentes said the novella, which explores themes of racism and includes the N-word, was “psychologically and emotionally” harmful to black children.

she told the BBC: “They’ve very often been the only black child in that classroom when discussions all around them are focusing on very derogatory, negative depictions of black people.”

The WJEC has employed an anti-racism consultant to help shape the new GCSE and “ensure that our qualifications reflect a modern and inclusive Wales”.

The course will reportedly cover “a choice of work from writers of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, genders and communities”.

English teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin IN Carmarthen, Rhian Evans said Of Mice and Men explores important themes around “how we treat each other in general in our societies”.

She said: “But I think the truth is that as a white woman, I will never know what it feels like to be a child of colour in a classroom where they are forced to encounter [the N-word] as part of their GCSE education.”

However, Welsh shadow education secretary Natasha Asghar has criticised the move, suggesting that it is counterproductive to tackling racism.

She said: “Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism was commonplace and accepted in the past and why this was harmful and wrong.

“Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices, some of which sadly continue.”

Both Of Mice and Men and To Kill A Mockingbird were dropped from UK exam board OCR’s curriculum in 2014 after then-education secretary Michael Gove called for more British authors to be included.