The material was used to present children with different situations to aid them in discussing their emotions and feelings, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reports.
The images included, among other things, a monkey in a hijab surrounded by humans as well as a group of monkeys shouting at each other while wearing shirts with the word orten on them. Orten comes from the word förort, and refers to suburbs of Sweden's major cities with a large immigrant community.
Under the images are various questions for discussion, such as "who could the monkey ask for help?" or "have you felt like this before?".
They have been withdrawn after criticism from local social worker Bettan Byvald, who has received awards among other things for her work in Gothenburg's vulnerable areas.
"This contributes to structural racism," she said. "That's not the aim, I understand that, but that's what it's doing."
She added that she finds it difficult to understand how leadership did not realise the images were problematic.
"Everyone knows that 'monkey' is used as an insult. How unaware can the leadership be? How much ignorance are we accepting?"
Alessandro Rezaei, a departmental head for north-eastern Gothenburg's social services, told DN that the material had been reworked as soon as he became aware of the criticism.
He stressed that they had also used images of other animals, such as elephants and wolves, and had included monkeys because their body and facial language is similar to that of humans.
"It has not been our intention to in any way express or reinforce racist beliefs in the material," he said, apologising to anyone who had taken offence. "I'm above all thinking of our residents – our parents, families and children."
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