Parents of pupils at Durban’s Grosvenor Girls’ High School have told horror stories, saying their children have endured institutionalised racism for years. Concerned parents who spoke to Sunday World this week said the school protected racists.
“As parents, we are caught between a rock and a hard place because you want your child to get a good education, which is often offered by these racist institutions. “For many years, racism in the school has been an ongoing thing. “We just tolerated it because we didn’t want to be viewed as troublemakers,” explained Bafanyana Langa, one of the disgruntled parents.
He said the school had stricter rules reserved only for black parents while it was lenient towards other race groups. “When you have certain obligations and you are unable to settle fees, the school takes a hard line against black parents.
They even prevent your child from attending classes. “At some stage, I was told by one teacher that they were doing black learners a favour by accepting them and that they should not expect to be treated like other race groups,” he said.
Racial tensions came to a head this week when angry pupils demonstrated outside the school complaining of being racially discriminated against. They claim that the teachers at the school were using racial slurs when addressing them, saying they were being called monkeys.
The pupils also allege that they were being referred to as taxi queens and black sluts. Another parent, Nosipho Kheswa said even black parents who made it to the school governing body must toe the line. “If you are seen as radical within the governing body your views are stifled.
I had to quit being part of the SGB because I was raising similar issues of race, [arguing] that some learners were attempting suicides because they couldn’t endure being tormented and treated as subhumans,” said Kheswa.
“My child, for instance, had complained to me several times about being bullied by teachers and mocked about her black hair and black skin. She refused to go to school for days.” It’s not the first time that the school, located in the affluent Bluff suburb, has been rocked by violent confrontations over race.
In 2019 the school faced similar allegations. It’s not only in KwaZulu- Natal that race has been an issue at schools. Last month at Hoerskool Jan Viljoen in Randfontein, Gauteng, a brawl ensued between black and white pupils. The incident spilt over to parents who chose to support children along colour lines.
The provincial department of education said it would wait for the findings of an independent panel probing racism allegations before deciding on the next move.
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