SCOTTISH pupils should travel to Northern Ireland to learn first hand about The Troubles as part of the drive to tackle sectarianism, campaigners have said.

The call from anti-sectarian charity Nil By Mouth comes in the week 200 pupils from Scotland visited the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in a scheme backed by the Scottish Government aimed at tackling prejudice.

The idea was welcomed by academics and educational professionals - although there was a warning that trips would have to be handled sensitively.

The SNP have recently invested more than £500,000 in the initiative, run by the London-based Holocaust Educational Trust, and since its inception in 1999 nearly 2800 Scottish pupils have visited the site in Poland, as well as having the chance to hear the testimony of a Holocaust survivor.

David Scott, campaign director of Nil By Mouth, said the visits were an incredible opportunity for pupils to witness the consequences of racism.

And he called on the Scottish Government to consider funding trips to Northern Ireland so pupils could learn about the impact of sectarianism.

He said: "There are strong emotional and cultural ties between Northern Ireland and Scotland and we cannot ignore the fact that events and tensions in Belfast often echo across the Irish Sea. We know from our work in schools that young people still feel this connection.

"There is great potential for the Scottish Government to fund exchange programmes between schools and we'd support efforts to make this a reality."

Scott said his charity had visited Belfast to meet with campaign groups, victims of sectarianism, sports clubs and education projects trying to help young people make sense of the past and shape a future free from religious hatred. "There are many Scottish schools and communities which could undoubtedly benefit from a similar experience and environment," he added.

Professor Henry Maitles, interim head of the School of Education at the University of the West of Scotland, who conducted research into the impact of the Auschwitz project, said the personal development of pupils and the impact on their wider community was far greater following such trips. He said: "The visits gave the young people an ability to engage much more widely and that ripple effect into the community could not have been achieved just by doing a lesson in the classroom."

Maitles said he had been involved in anti-sectarian workshops and would be in favour of links being made with schools in Northern Ireland.

"The key question would be to develop a balanced view that would draw out an understanding of alternative perspectives - if that was done then visits to Northern Ireland would have a positive part to play," he added.

Ken Cunningham, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, which represents secondary headteachers, said that while he "applauded the concept" it would be difficult to manage.

"It is a great idea. However, it would have to be handled very carefully because the sensitivities are very close to the surface in some cases."