Time for Clarendon High to have the conversation

Transformation officer Naledi Mbude said the department had and would continue to conduct meetings with teachers and school principal Julie Patrick

The Eastern Cape education department’s transformation structure has launched an investigation into allegations of entrenched racism at Clarendon High School for Girls in East London.

Transformation officer Naledi Mbude said the department had and would continue to conduct meetings with teachers, school principal Julie Patrick, the school management team, the governing body and the UnSilenced group as part of the transformation process.

Un-Silenced is a student collective, consisting of past and present pupils, which was formed in response to pupils’ social media accounts of racial discrimination at the school.

The pupils detailed disturbing accounts of overt racial comments from staff, how they were snubbed for awards when they were as deserving as their white counterparts, how they were unable to speak their home language on school premises, how their religious beliefs were disregarded by the school, and how they were discriminated against for the texture and styles of their hair.

Against this backdrop, Carol Felton — a former teacher at the school — this week released a letter, addressed to the principal and SGB, on how the school’s management and governing body had ignored reports of racism over many years.

Felton, who was a teacher at the school for more than three decades, recalled accounts where matters of racism reported to the SGB were met with “deadly silence” and inaction.

Her letter details how the needs of white pupils were prioritised by the school, particularly when it came to sports.

Mbude said transformation at the school would take time as discrimination against pupils was found within the school’s policies and longstanding traditions, which date back more than 100 years.

The school did not acknowledge pupils’ experiences, Felton says.

“These are lived experiences the girls are coming out to talk about. Girls who were at the school in 1999 are speaking out about racial issues which pupils still face in this day and age.”

“The girls are hurt and, their hurt is justified. We have to listen to them and not dismiss their experiences at the school,” Mbude said.

Mbude said parents played a key role in making sure issues were addressed. She encouraged parents to “not fear speaking out about the injustices which their daughters face.”

She said there was a “trust deficit.”

“So we must come and listen to all parties. Transformation can only happen when all parties are involved, including the complainant.”

Mbude said the investigation at the school would include a policy review, but added that “policies are not enough.”

“When the policies are reviewed, every staff and SGB member has to come closer to implementing those policies.”

An external mediator will be involved in the process “once the department makes sure the internal staff and SGB members are clear and understand the experiences of the girls.”

Felton’s letter details how the school’s Xhosa teacher was not paid a salary equal to that of her counterparts, and how her position at the school was categorised as “lab assistant” in the books.

Mbude said she was aware that some educators were also exposed to racial discrimination.

“One teacher told me how she had to work twice as hard to prove herself and how she didn’t realise that girls at the school were experiencing the same thing,” Mbude said.

Mbude said she hoped UnSilenced would inspire a province-wide movement to speak and act against systemic racism at schools.

An email to school governing body chairperson Greg Webb had not been responded to at the time of the Dispatch’s print deadline on Wednesday.

The Dispatch also called and sent a WhatsApp message to school principal Patrick, who did not answer either of them.

Patrick has previously told the Dispatch that queries must be sent to the education department.