It wasn’t our intention to tolerate racism: Pretoria High School for Girls

“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 (SGB).

“It is our intention to have a fully non-racial 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 victimisation 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 of the racial abuse and victimisation.

“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,” said Lesufi.

Among other recommendations, the report the investigators prescribed that disciplinary action should be taken against educators where there is sufficient information of wrongdoing.

“The practice of referring black learners to a specific black educator to sort out their hair should cease and that the school should adopt a more dignified and less embarrassing form of enforcing discipline in relation to hair. The school should implement a warning system when it comes to hair,” Lesufi read out the recommendations.

“It is recommended that the school should implement diversity training as well as a cultural awareness programme. This should be directed at both educators and learners to ensure there is proper understanding in relation to matters of race, gender, culture, religion amongst the learners, and between learners and educators. The SGB should also be included in these interventions.”

The diversity intervention should be completed by the end of April 2017.

It was also found that the current composition of the SGB is not reflective of the racial demographics of the Pretoria school. It was recommended that black parents be included in the SGB.

In August, tempers flared as black students at the PHSG were up in arms over what they called racist incidents relating to the institution’s policies regarding hair.

At the time, some of the girls told Lesufi that they were made to straighten their hair and avoid African styles like the Afro. Others alleged they had been called “monkeys”.

On Friday, Lesufi also apologised to black learners at the school.

“The department extends its apology to particularly the affected black learners for going through such a traumatic and humiliating experience of racial abuse and victimisation,” said Lesufi.