A teacher was forced to apologise after he called a black student “ugly” in what he claims was an experiment to teach children about racism.

Mauro Bocci, 42, was working as a supply teacher at a primary school in central Italy when he reportedly asked the only black pupil in the class to stand at the front of the room where he is said to have told the other children: “Look how ugly he is.”

The incident, in the town of Foligno, in Umbria, is said to have happened two weeks ago but only gained national attention this week after politician Nicola Fratoianni, of the left-wing Sinistra Italiana, posted about it on Facebook.

Mr Bocci told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that his intention was to teach the class of 10- and 11-year-old pupils that you should never single someone out because of the colour of their skin.

But he apologised and insisted he was not racist and had asked the children for their permission beforehand.

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He told Corriere della Sera: “In hindsight, it’s clear, I would not do it again.

“I showed the class what you should never do, isolate someone because they do not have the skin of your own colour.”

The pupil’s father, who moved to Italy from Nigeria more than a decade ago, said his son told him what had happened when he returned home from school.

He told Italian state broadcaster Rai: “It’s not a social experiment, it’s racism.”

The boy’s parents claimed the teacher also racially abused their daughter, however Mr Bocci told Corriere della Sera this was not the case and that it was the first time he had carried out the experiment.