TSHWANE – The controversial Pretoria High School for Girls on Friday night, Dec. 2, apologized for the racial abuse and victimization of Black learners after a report by a law firm into the alleged extensive racism validated the pupils’ allegations.
“To the learners that have been treated unfairly, in a manner unbecoming of our school, and society in general, which has been harmed by the events that have taken place, we offer our sincere apology – unconditionally so. We will ensure that intolerance and racism, where found to still exist, are eradicated,” said James Tubb, a member of the School Governing Body.
“It is our intention to have a fully nonracial school environment. Anything to the contrary is simply not true. It has never been our intention to tolerate racism in any way. We firmly believe that Pretoria High School for Girls is a school where learners have equal opportunities in a variety of fields.”
Following protests and widespread allegations of racism and victimization of the pupils in August, Gauteng MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi appointed a law firm to investigate the matter. On Friday, Lesufi announced that the probe had confirmed the incidents as reported by the students.
“The incidents of black learners being told to stand up in groups to demonstrate ethnic/settlement origins during apartheid, while white learners were never asked to do the same,” Lesufi read out the findings of the investigation during a media briefing in the school premises. “This was insensitive, immature, demeaning and denigrating to the black learners, to say the least.”
Lesufi said the school was found to be unresponsive to Black learners’ complaints of racial abuse by educators and white learners.
“A number of incidents were noted wherein either learners or parents notified the school about alleged racial-abuse incidents on black learners, but no actions were taken or updates were not provided to the complainants,” Furthermore, the school did not take firm action against the implicated educators,” Lesufi said. “Furthermore, the school did not take firm action against the implicated educators.”
Among other recommendations, the investigators prescribed that disciplinary action should be taken against educators where there is sufficient information and evidence of wrongdoing.
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