Johannesburg - An allegedly racist substitute teacher at Crawford International Pretoria College has been dismissed after she was caught in a video that has gone viral writing racist phrases in a class.
In the video that has caused outrage, the 82-year-old Grade 8 substitute teacher was captured by a learner writing racist phrases, such the N- and K-word, during an English class on Monday.
The footage surfaced on social media later that afternoon, and the teacher was dismissed by the school that same evening.
The learners were seen taking out their cellphones and recording in the video, while some were heard shouting: “Absolutely } this right here … no, no, no } Not in my country, Ma’am”.
However, the white teacher seemed unperturbed as she continued writing on the whiteboard as learners expressed concern.
In a statement by Crawford International Pretoria College, principal Cheryl Naidoo confirmed the school’s removal of the substitute teacher.
“The individual involved is a shortterm temporary substitute teacher who was brought in a week ago to relieve a permanent teacher on sick leave. The temporary teacher has been informed not to resume her duties, and the school reserves its rights regarding further action,” said Naidoo.
The principal added that the private school denounced any form of prejudice or discrimination in any capacity and deeply regretted the incident and any offence it may have caused.
The Gauteng Education Department visited the school yesterday to ascertain further details surrounding the incident.
The department said the teacher was teaching provocative language and allegedly told learners that they must not be hurt when the “K-word” was used on them because they were not affected by apartheid.
The department said the teacher’s actions were vehemently unacceptable and have undeniable racist undertones, which would not be tolerated in any aspect of the education sector.
It said the teacher would also be reported to the SA Council for Educators (SACE) for necessary investigation and deregistration so that she was not allowed to teach any longer.
The department said it was encouraging that the school has begun providing
counselling to the learners affected by the incident.
The school also undertook to review their recruitment measures to avoid enlisting candidates who may potentially threaten the delivery of quality education and learning.
“It is distasteful to see individuals with whom we have entrusted the education of our children use that valuable time to push their own villainous agendas and poison the minds of our learners.
“We condemn, in the strongest sense, the behaviour of this educator
and any others who may want to behave in such an unpalatable manner.
“We applaud the school for taking a swift decision to remove this educator immediately and being keen to take further remedial steps of action alongside the department,” said Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane.
The executive director of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa), Basil Manuel, said context was important, however, one has to look at all things that were happening in class at the time.
“Certainly, there seemed to be chaos,
and the children were reacting already to what was being written on the board because so much had been listened to and used derogatory terms to describe black people,” said Manuel.
He said what made it worse was that the teacher was describing people who were different from herself and saying there couldn’t be an assumption that she knew how people felt about it, irrespective of whether she could try to justify it.
“You cannot tell me you are unaware of this; it screams about a lack of emotional intelligence,” said Manuel.
The Star