The Indian teacher accused of racism after she reportedly called black pupils monkeys at Curro Academy in Protea Glen, Soweto, has been pushed out of the school.
Tayabah Jadwat, who racially attacked three pupils when they were in Grade 11, resigned after she was allegedly instructed to jump ship by the school’s executive head, Johannes Mahlatsi, instead of being fired.
But her resignation may be a futile exercise because the school is proceeding with a disciplinary hearing and might fire her in absentia.
Sources close to the case said the pupils made noises when Jadwat was busy teaching in the classroom and she lost her cool and called them monkeys.
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.
When contacted, an irate Jadwat told Sunday World that she was forced to quit her job by Mahlatsi.
She said Mahlatsi, who replaced the school’s former executive head, Shanette Tiquin who was also expelled for allegedly calling her colleague Nonkululeko Gwatyu a monkey, had told her to rather resign than be fired.
“Yes, I resigned, and secondly, it was because you wrote utter crap about me last time when you said I cried. I resigned because I had a meeting with the executive head (Mahlatsi).
“I resigned because I didn’t want to be in a disciplinary hearing for those racism allegations. You wrote s@#t about me last time, and I lost my career and my life because of that story you wrote. You lied about me, and I am not racist. I am going to sue you and the Sunday World for destroying my life,” said the piqued Jadwat.
When asked why she did not insist on going to the disciplinary hearing and exonerate herself, she argued that she would not have had time to do so.“I was not racial. I didn’t call the kids monkeys,” she said.
Jadwat said she would tell her side of the story when ready to do so.
Curro Holdings business execu-tive Fergus Sampson confirmed Jadwat had resigned.
“Curro Holdings acted immediately when it became aware of an incident at Protea Glen by suspending and charging the teacher with ‘conduct which can be construed as racist, alternatively offensive conduct, and/or harassment on the grounds of race’ and with inappropriate conduct in front of learners,” said Sampson.
He said Curro Holdings dealt with the matter with the consent of all the parties involved, including the parents.
“The teacher resigned, and the resignation was accepted.
However, Curro, in the interests of procedural justice, notified the employee that the disciplinary hearing would continue
