Using language as a tool to segregate children such as at Curro is unacceptable, says Vuyisile Msila.
Pretoria - In the middle of Youth Month Curro has done it again. Last week its Roodeplaat school on its way to an excursion had separate buses for black and white pupils.
The captured video shots clearly show how black pupils went into their own bus and again the school so patronisingly explained that it was separating the pupils based on language spoken.
The white bus was for pupils who speak Afrikaans and the black bus for English speakers. How absurd!
As in 1976 we see the use of language for political and racist ends.
It is sad that language can be used to perpetuate racist agendas and one cannot help but recall how in 1976 Afrikaans was brought on to the turf of racist war of oppression with sad consequences.
Unfortunately, these experiences are not doing a favour for an ordinary South African language used to justify absurdities of society. And it is clear that Curro will hardly change its agenda as trails of problems follow the school.
The uncovering of various bigoted tendencies at this school has given government and society homework as well as time to reflect on our schools’ purpose.
A few weeks ago we witnessed how the school management upheld prejudiced notions so as to nurse some white parents who were threatening to take away their children to other schools to avoid integrated classrooms. So unthinkable this was when we consider how far this nation has come. It is good discovery though, because in a wave of excitement about the new society we usually forget how many people suffer every day in farms, in firms and in institutions similar to the Curro School. Many victims never make it to newspaper headlines as they suffer indignity and scorn; working for companies whose mission statements beguilingly display the hope of a better and harmonious future.
Curro is one example that demonstrates how far we are from the mark. This school is undergirded by a Christian ethos that highlights a caring behaviour that would benefit human kind. The school song’s lyrics bid for glory for all the school’s role-players. This school’s racist tendencies should be a wake-up call; that there are more important scripts we need to entertain than the more mundane and perfunctory pieces.
Otherwise sadly, our society has no future as children will still live within the confines and grudges of their forebears. The society is fast bearing negative impacts on schools; stereotypes, hatred, violence and segregation are some of the ills that persist in the South African society which are evident in schools.
Many other examples are also found in higher education institutions.
The Curro experience generally shows how many pupils and their families are failed by schools at fairness. Schools are supposed to be levellers in society, institutions that close the gap between the rich and the poor. Yet the unearthing of racism at Curro makes one think of 100 other schools that fail families whose main desire is education that will equip their children for a better future. There are so many ways that schools hide various kinds of segregation and these include the separation of Afrikaans and English classes.
Often this appears so legitimate, noble and justifiable, but examining them closely, one can easily realise that these are some of the ploys to have separate classrooms based on race. This is a mockery to democracy and denigration to years of struggle for total liberation of South Africa’s people.
The post-apartheid education policy is based on the Constitution and among its objectives are to redress past imbalances and address education based on race.
The problem with schools with similar arrangements to Curro Roodeplaat is that we cannot create top performers who will be confident change agents in society and even the best of curricula will fail to enable the pupils to be thought leaders who will be champions of a transforming society. In fact, education will bring paradoxes such as creating dissonance in being taught about a progressive society while the school culture is stifling. Schools that continue to short-change pupils are an anathema to society and a disgrace to the Constitution of the republic.
Even the best of schools will be affected negatively by malicious intents to segregate pupils according to colour lines. Such classes have deep implications for socialisation; children on sports grounds play with those they are familiar with, the ones they share their classroom with. Moreover, schools such as the Curro Roodeplaat are only bringing back what apartheid education purported. Schools based on Verwoerdian principles will bring about children with low self-esteem.
In our fight over pedagogical goals of education, debates frequently come to nought because it is the political and historical questions we are so tied by.
Our children need education that will also address their civic, moral and humanising aspects. Segregated classes are an anti-thesis to an equitable society.
However, the experiments in schools such as Curro Roodeplaat will make parents question the worth of sending their children to school. Many black parents invest in education by sending their children to what they regard as better schools. Some of them have an idea of what their children should get from school, although others may have reasons that are far from being pedagogic. Better English communication skills, improved numeracy skills and exposure to varied sporting codes may be among the reasons.
However, many consciously want their children to mingle with children from other cultures and racial backgrounds and learn from the rich cultural experience. Yet as I’ve highlighted, maybe society is expecting too much from schools, just too much to the edge of being unrealistic.
Indeed, schools will be as good as the society in which they are built.
Recent events in schools display how tough it is for schools to compensate the ills of the South African society.
In another case in Roodepoort recently, we saw how ugly wrangling in schools can be as coloured parents fought with black parents over what the school’s staffing as well as goals should be. This was so pathetic that at some point the school gates had to be locked. In fact, at some point the MEC for education closed the school.
We have also witnessed how initiation of pupils ends up being a semblance of discrimination in some schools. In an incident that happened early this year, in Jan Kempdorp, Northern Cape, four white boys raped a black boy with a broomstick.
We live in a sick society that constantly sends confusing messages to young people.
The Grade R white child in Curro grows up knowing her superiority over fellow pupils in black classes.
South Africa does not need the past vestiges such as these in schools.
We are fortunate that Curro is being exposed for what it does in practice. However, we should be afraid of the many schools that continue to practise subtle racism without being discovered. There are also many that might be known but where role-players such as parents do not want to ruffle the feathers in case they jeopardise the placement of their children.
Yet we all have a role to play in confronting racism as it shows its face. South Africa cannot afford to revert to the history manufactured by smart leaders such as the dishonourable Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd. There is so much at stake now than ever before and schools must not be complicit in destroying the future they purport to build. Constant questions need to be asked as to why schools exist and what we want for the country’s future.
Racism does not destroy one group, but it ensnares all as victims. Schools should be leading in change initiatives as society continues to build a harmonious nation.
There is no place for racist schools in the democratic dispensation, but society should play its role. There are many parents who are aloof, who believe that teachers will create a conducive atmosphere for all pupils. Kudos to the 30 parents who stood up in Curro Roodeplaat in the past few weeks. Schools must not be permitted to continue with the education that supports an unjust society.
A struggle was pronounced in 1976 against an unjust system of education and it should continue. We need to discontinue the flawed experiments where our children are guinea pigs.
While we continue to preach reconciliation we talk over one another and soon our children will realise that it is misleading arguments that we use in the guise of preparing their future. Segregated schools only help build a brittle tomorrow. Prodigious changes are needed by society or schools such as Curro will not help equalise the society.
The government should work with various other role-players to identify and root out all existing Curros in our country.
* Professor Vuyisile Msila is head at Unisa’s Institute for African Renaissance. He writes in his personal capacity.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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