Pretoria - The racism row that erupted at Pretoria Girls High School this week was a result of outdated codes of conduct prevalent at former Model C schools across the country.
And, according to the Federation of Association of Governing Bodies, similar unrest incidents can be expected unless there is a regular review of codes of conduct in order to provide an inclusive and appropriate set of rules.
Chief executive officer of the federation, Paul Colditz, said the re-evaluation of policies and regulations on a constant basis was vital to ensure they remained relevant.
"School governing bodies need to regularly revise their schools' codes of conduct to meet society's expectations," Colditz said.
"Every school should determine the core values of communities it is in, and the rules that result from that should be determined and guided by those values - they should be the overriding aspect."
He said it was imperative for open channels of communication to be created to provide a platform for parents, teachers and pupils to engage in dialogue.
Colditz expressed shock at the claims made by pupils at Pretoria High School for Girls about being subjected to discriminatory and racist acts.
"It's strange and inexplicable that they claim they were reporting their incidents and these were not resolved by the governing body. Two to three pupil representatives should have been elected to the governing body to ensure issues raised by pupils are elevated to the board and given attention they needed. Their presence should have provided direct access to the board by the pupils."
Following the unrest over a clause in the code of conduct about hair care, which peaked on Monday and was supported across various sectors countrywide, MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi engaged with the governing body, management, pupils and parents.
An agreement was reached to suspend the school's code of conduct, which was believed to be racist and out of date. It was the clause therein about black pupils having to straighten their hair that drove them over the edge.
Lesufi ordered that a new code of conduct be drafted by the school governing body and that pupils be a key contributor in the drafting.
The MEC also launched an investigation into the conduct of teachers who were accused of perpetuating racism. He said action would be taken against the school's management. He banned any form of protest while the investigation, to be concluded within 21 days, was under way.
However, Congress of South African Students provincial secretary Benedict Phalane said they did not agree with the steps taken by the Department of Education to resolve issues at the school. "Our problem is that they spoke about 21 days. We do not agree with that because when pupils were being victimised they were not given any time-frame.
"There was no committee formed to victimise them. We want relevant answers from the MEC and are saying he must sober up and make sober decisions."
Phalane was speaking during a demonstration attended by pupils from Atteridgeville and Mamelodi to demonstrate their support against the alleged racism at the school. The organisation marched to the school to deliver a memorandum to departmental representatives. Among their demands was a call for a change to the school's language policy and an end to discrimination.
"The MEC must take over the administration of the school and fire the principal. He must change the school's management because it is very white and does not include any black person," he said.
Phalane said it was unfortunate that issues of racism were still being discussed 22 years into democracy. "We should be discussing free education. We cannot continue having people in the system that refuse to understand that South Africa now has 11 official languages. Those people should either vacate our school premises or they do what is right.
"We told the department to start dealing with these issues and respond within 14 days. Now they decided to form a committee that is going to check on the complaints filed by the pupils," he said.
Basic Education spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said: "If you look at what happened in Pretoria, it is not a policy issue or the code of conduct. The problem is individual teachers who have been allowed to say certain things to learners and when they complain nothing is done.
"This then becomes the culture of the school." He said the department was reviewing school policies, including the SA Schools Act and the role of school governing bodies.
These policy changes, Mhlanga said, would be open for public comment soon.
Pretoria News