School sends controversial letter to foreign parents
“THE LETTER sent out and dated 22 February to foreign parents has been withdrawn. Ignore.”
This is all Eastleigh Primary School communicated to parents yesterday after it sent out a letter threatening foreign parents that their children would be taken to the police station if they could not prove that their documentation was in order.
On Wednesday, the school sent the letter to foreign parents requesting them to update their infor mation by producing original immigration permits for themselves and their children or face the prospect of having their children removed from the school by the police.
The letter was circulated on social media.
The school said it had been visited by Department of Home Affairs officials which instructed it to take the drastic action.
But Home Affairs spokesperson Mayihlome Tshwete said it was not the department’s policy to have children arrested at school and taken to police stations.
“While we encourage parents to ensure they have the right documentation, we don’t have a policy on arresting children.”
Tshwete refused to comment further.
The Gauteng Department of Education later instructed Eastleigh Primary School to withdraw the letter.
“As the department we support the need to comply with laws of the country, but caution that we need to be sympathetic and deal with it with empathy,” said Bodibe.
“So the school has been asked to withdraw the last statement, where it was threatening to send the children to the police station, but rather to tell parents that if they don’t comply they must keep their children at home.”
The school, meanwhile, was not available for comment.