Schools must act on racism

Schools need to take remedial action against those who perpetuate racism to maintain a good reputation.

Amid all the racial tension after the death of George Floyd, many young people have been sharing their high school experiences, detailing how they were subjected to injustices and prejudice.

As a former high school student, I share the views that many other children (mainly people of colour) have of [some traditionally white] schools.

My first racial encounter at the school was in grade 8 when a girl told me during an Afrikaans lesson that I remind her of her domestic and the guy that does the garden at her home.

I was later told that black people behave like baboons.

I filed a complaint to the school’s authorities but the perpetrator was given a lousy punishment — made to wear formal uniform for a week and issue an apology, which I had to go and look for after waiting for it for ages.

Two years later, in grade 10, the day after the state of the nation address during former president Jacob Zuma’s administration, when the EFF had a physical altercation with the parliamentary security forces, we had a political discussion on what had unfolded.

Out of nowhere a white girl asked the teacher during the lesson “ma’am did you see those baboons ... bloody monkeys, what was that?”

Again I filed a complaint to the headmaster and this time the response was even more embarrassing.

Before issuing their lousy, pathetic punishment, he told the white girl in front of me that, “you know how blacks are when you say things like this — the moment you make such statements they throw the race card”.

I was seething and tried to mobilise people of colour at the school — not that there were too many of us — to also start playing a role in fighting this, but most of them distanced themselves from the situation.

In 2017, we had an interhouse debate at school and afterwards a teacher asked my debating coach how she made me debate as I was an embarrassment to black people.

This is the problem with [many] private and public schools in the Eastern Cape — the culture is extremely racist and prejudiced against people of colour.

These institutions would rather have our parents pay large amounts of school fees and fail to call pupils to order when they perpetuate racial remarks and slurs.

Time and time again, people of colour are subjected to any form of social injustice, from teachers or pupils.

Teachers and pupils at these schools, particularly white pupils, have got a tendency of telling Africans to not speak any indigenous language because they don’t understand.

I suggest the schools’ authorities and those on the front line engage with those who’ve been subjected to social injustice and try to eradicate this problem.

Solutions could include:

● Because every school has a policy that sets a protocol for the school, its policy should be thoroughly studied;

● Because bullying, theft, substance abuse and cheating are regarded as serious offences at schools, any form of discrimination or injustice should also be regarded as a serious offence and anyone found guilty should face repercussions; and

● These repercussions should include expelling or suspending perpetrators and denying them opportunities such as bursaries or scholarships.