Labour MSP Anas Sarwar will call for anti-racism lessons to be added to the school curriculum at a speech in Glasgow.

The politician will make the speech at the Teachers Turning the Tide event where teachers and lecturers from across Scotland will discuss what they can do to combat racism through education.

He will also call for changes to teacher training to make equality a more mainstream issue and for more heads and deputy heads to come from ethnic backgrounds.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mr Sarwar said: "Across Scotland, there are major challenges facing society with everyday racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and more.

"Education is rightly seen as the vehicle to break the cycle of poverty, but it is also the vehicle to defeat prejudice and hate. Teaching a child can help educate and change a family, and it can educate and change a community."

He added: "It feels like we live in a time where division, anger and hate is now politically fashionable. We - a collective we - have to stand up, speak out and challenge that.

"The fight against all forms of hatred, prejudice and bigotry is a fight for all of us."

The Glasgow MSP will also argue that social media platforms need to do more to tackle racist comments online, to prevent children from viewing these on their sites.

Teacher's leaders backed the calls and insisted that the need for anti-racist education in schools is becoming more urgent than ever.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan argued the rise of the far-right in politics made challenging prejudice an "important task" for all educators.

Mr Flanagan said the Teachers Turning the Tide event was part of the EIS's "ongoing commitment to anti-racist education in schools, colleges and universities across Scotland".

He stated: "Sadly, this work is becoming more urgent than ever, as a result of the growth of the far right across Europe and increase in racist attitudes in many parts of society including in political debate and via mass media."

Priya Khindria, campaign manager for Show Racism the Red Card, echoed the claims and said: "It is extremely important that anti-racist education is included in Scottish schools' curriculum. As a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, Scotland's young people need to be educated around these topics.

"It is not simply enough to discipline those who exhibit racist behaviours - we must be proactive in teaching young people to prevent racist incidents from occurring.

She concluded: "Embedding anti-racist education across the curriculum will also help teachers be aware of how they should respond to these types of behaviours and feel confident in approaching what can sometimes be a daunting topic."