‘We’re not allowed to speak isiXhosa at school’

Pupils at Sans Souci Girls' High say some teachers are giving black pupils English names instead of using their isiXhosa names.

Pupils at Sans Souci Girls' High say some teachers are giving black pupils English names instead of using their isiXhosa names.

Published Sep 2, 2016

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Cape Town - While Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer is appealing to schools to review their codes of conduct, amid claims by pupils at Sans Souci Girls’ High some teachers are giving black pupils English names instead of using their isiXhosa names.

A group of pupils protested against “institutional racism” at the Newlands school on Thursday, saying their grievances included not being allowed to speak isiXhosa on the school premises.

“I am not called by the name my mother gave me here. They refuse to call me by my name,” a Grade 8 pupil told the Cape Argus.

She showed the Cape Argus a yellow notebook of demerits she had received, including three hours’ detention “for speaking isiXhosa”.

Singing on the school grounds @TheCapeArgus #SansSouci pic.twitter.com/lxTJDRPMMp

— Zodidi Dano (@Zoey_dano) September 1, 2016

The Western Cape Education Department has sent officials to the school and has launched an investigation.

Pupils will be interviewed as part of the probe.

On Thursday, scores of pupils roamed around the grounds for several hours and told journalists they were not allowed to attend classes after protesting against the school’s hair and language policies.

The pupils were later joined by parents and pupils from neighbouring schools who came to show their support.

The pupils reported the case to the police stating that their rights were being infringed upon because their parents were prevented from enter the school grounds. The parents were only allowed inside after the police intervened.

A pupil who is practising traditional healing said she had to wear her hair in dreadlocks because of her calling, but that was forbidden at the school.

The pupil said she and her parents had to seek permission from the education department to wear dreadlocks.

“The school gave me so much hassle because they said our hair is exotic and it needed to be straight and if you are black, like me, you cannot have coloured hair.

A Grade 9 pupil said she was forced to cut her hair and conform to the school's hair policy. “They used to call my plaits Mopani worms and my afro a beehive. I was given an option to relax my hair or just cut it. At this school you are made to feel bad because you are black.”

#SansSouci pupils protesting again the school's hair policy. @TheCapeArgus pic.twitter.com/9zoTjz079e

— Zodidi Dano (@Zoey_dano) September 1, 2016

Alice Mbonga, a parent who had come to show support to the pupils, said the frustration had been brewing for a long time.

“This is a build-up of the pupils’ frustration. It is disappointing to find a school that even after 20 years of democracy, is not moving forward with the times.

“What the children are doing is wonderful, they are standing up for themselves hence we are here. We have felt their frustration, this is an oppressive system.”

Schäfer said there were two main areas of concern that had to be dealt with in different ways. The first was that pupils have alleged the school's code of conduct was discriminatory and the second involved serious allegations about the actions of some individual teachers.

“I have discussed the matter with the chair of the governing body. He advised me none of these issues have been raised by the learner representatives on the governing body at any stage, and there is an open door policy where any matter of concern can bediscussed.”

She said the chairman had committed to convening an urgent governing body meeting next week where “they will do whatever is necessary to ensure that issues of concern are discussed and suitably addressed”.

She said codes of conduct had to reflect the values of the constitution.

“The current national debate is a good opportunity for school communities to reflect on this issue. I am therefore calling on all schools in the Western Cape to review their codes of conduct to ensure that they are in line with the values of theconstitution, and representative of the school community. I will be asking my department to formally issue a circular to this effect.”

She said if it was true pupils were discouraged from speaking any language other than English while in uniform “to make other people feel included”, then this was unacceptable.

“It is the right of individuals to speak in their language of choice. Obviously for school lessons this is not possible, but in any other respect there is no reason to justify this practice. It would be a golden opportunity for English speakers to learn other languages.”

The department said the school was rewriting its code of conduct.

Cape Argus

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