Curro Academy in Protea Glen, Soweto has been rocked by allegations of racism again! Sunday World can exclusively reveal that an Indian teacher, Tayabah Jadwat, has called three black pupils monkeys, and the school management allegedly tried to sweep the matter under the rug.
Jadwat was suspended by Curro Academy’s mandarins, after Sunday World made inquiries about the incident, which has the potential to leave another blot on the reputation of the institution.
Sources close to the case said Jadwat lost her cool and called the pupils monkeys when the victims were still in grade 11 last year. Their sin was to make noise when she was apparently teaching them.
Although the powers that be allegedly caught a whiff of the incident, they did not act because, at that time, Curro was trying to fend off the storm caused by the axed principal, Shanette Tiquin, who had called a black teacher a monkey.
Insiders at the school, including teachers and pupils who are no longer part of Curro Academy, revealed that during the Tiquin scandal, Jadwat also showed her racism by calling pupils “monkeys”.
The school management tried to hide this matter, but there is a recording available, and it refuses to go away, said the sources.
In the recording that Sunday World listened to, Jadwat could be heard telling the pupils: “Can you keep quiet, and the three monkeys at the back.”
Her remarks shocked the pupils, who protested against her racist conduct.
Curro spokesperson Nadia Rossouw said the school became aware of the incident just on the day we made our inquiry.
“Curro Holdings became aware on Friday, (February 9, 2024) of alleged racist remarks made by a teacher at Curro Academy Protea Glen and promptly began an investigation into the claims.
“The alleged remarks reportedly occurred in the first term of 2023 and were made by a teacher towards three learners.
“At the time, no formal complaint was made through any channels at the school or within the Curro organisation. The executive head of the school also became aware of the allegations on Friday and immediately informed the Curro head office,” said Rossouw.
She said that, upon learning of the allegations, Curro then decided to suspend Jadwat with immediate effect and launched a disciplinary inquiry.
“We have previously demonstrated that we take allegations of racism seriously when incidents have come to light in our large community of schools.
“We view them as urgent matters requiring due process, a thorough, fair investigation, and a considered response to ensure that the outcome is appropriate,” said Rossouw.
When Sunday World contacted Jadwat on Friday regarding her racism allegations, she became speechless, cried, and hung up the phone.
Insiders within the school told Sunday World that the school’s management was lying by claiming that it did not know about the incident.
“They knew about it, but decided to keep it a secret as they knew that they would be fried by the public if that matter became known.
“Since you have published the story of Tiquin when she called a black teacher, Nonkululeko Gwatyu, a monkey, they never had a plan to deal with racism. Black teachers and black learners are at the receiving end of racism at Curro,” said a source.
Dear reader,
This story was amended to make it clear that the sentence in the story which stated that Curro Protea Glen school management knew about the incident, is an allegation and not a fact.
Editor
