Pretoria - Parents at Elandspoort High School staged a sit-in outside the school on Tuesday morning, protesting against the return of the school’s former principal.
School Governing Body (SGB) members and concerned parents arrived as early as 6.30am to await the arrival of the principal who they say had been the root cause of the school’s problems.
SGB chairwoman Mary Magodielo said they were unhappy with the department’s decision to return the school’s former “racist principal without consulting us”.
“He called our children black b****rds who would never get into heaven and that he would teach them manners so they could teach us (manners),” she said. He is alleged to have also told the children to go back to the township schools where they belong. “He admitted to these claims and was only fined one month’s salary; that is how much our children’s dignity is worth according to the department. I mean, if he hates our children so much why does he even want to come back then?” Magodielo asked.
She said the principal had been gone since 2012 and was not even trained for the new Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement being used, so his return would not be in the pupils’ best interests.
“Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi is contradicting himself if he proceeds with letting that man back here without listening to our pleas. At the inauguration of SGBs last week, he said it was up to us to ensure our children are afforded quality education, trained educators and to root out racism. That is what we are doing now,” said Magodielo.
Charl Swarts, a parent who arrived early to join the sit-in, said the root of the problem was a lack of communication between the parents and the department.
“The principal disappeared four years ago with no one so much as giving us a heads-up about what was going on and now we should just accept that he is coming back,” he said.
“The school doesn’t need him anymore. We have been working on transformation of the school into an English medium with the acting principal doing just fine,” said Swarts.
Gauteng Department of Basic Education spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane confirmed that a disciplinary hearing was conducted in connection with the alleged racist utterances made by the principal and the outcome was suspension without pay, but it also required that he had to return to the school after having served the sanction.
Pretoria News