A lesson in bravery

YESTERDAY was a historic day for the pupils of Sans Souci Girls’ High School. Staff and pupils welcomed their first principal of colour, Ruschda O’Shea, after a two-year battle the girls had waged against institutionalised racism at their school.

What is more remarkable is the fact that O’Shea comes off the back of working at Fezeka Secondary School in Gugulethu and Tafelsig Secondary School in Mitchells Plain.

From the townships of Cape Town, O’Shea believes this will help her relate to pupils who had previously felt misunderstood.

In 2016, following protests at Pretoria High School for Girls, where black pupils were allegedly being told to straighten their hair, a group of Sans Souci pupils protested against racism perpetuated by their school’s code of conduct.

The girls said the school rules did not accommodate their natural hair, and they were not allowed to speak their home languages.

They tore up their yellow merit books, within which many pupils were given demerits for speaking isiXhosa at school.

These students felt their blackness had been denied. Just months after university students challenged the colonial structures of their institutions with the #FeesMustFall movement, these young girls fought against systematic oppression that has largely gone unchallenged and unchanged.

They, with their parents, called for the immediate dismissal of then principal Charmaine Murray and an overhaul of the schools staff and policies.

The provincial education department investigated the allegations and Murray retired last year as a result of the protests.

The Cape Times followed the case of Sans Souci closely, as a microcosm of the normalised colonial structures affecting our schooling system and society at large.

Yesterday you could feel the excitement as O’Shea took to the podium to address her staff and pupils. The pupils were rowdy – this was what they had put their academic lives on the line for.

The appointment of O’Shea is testament to what can happen when young black, brave girls stand together.

They inspired a national debate, a movement that was felt around the country, and real change.

We salute these courageous future revolutionaries of Sans Souci.