New Delhi:
A teacher in South Africa has been suspended after a photo of children seated 'segregated' by their race surfaced on the internet. This seemingly ignorant and racist approach from a teacher expected to teach students against her done ‘actions’ has shocked the world. According to reports, the teacher’s intention was to show the parents of Schweizer-Reneke primary school that everything was going fine since it was the first day of school, which needless to say, backfired.
A black parent of one of the students told TimesLive News site that she thought her child's first day at school in had got off to a good start until she saw the image.
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"This was meant to be an exciting day for me, but it's not," she said.
Local authorities say they ‘highly condemn’ what had entailed and have removed the teacher with immediate effect.
Many parents have also taken to social media to express their ‘horror’ over what had happened. One Twitter user commented, ‘’What seems to have happened at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke is an absolute disgrace. If you cannot accept children as children, get out of the classroom’’.
What seems to have happened at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke is an absolute disgrace. If you cannot accept children as children, get out of the classroom
— Jonathan Jansen (@JJ_Stellies) January 10, 2019
The BBC's Milton Nkosi in South Africa says Schweizer-Reneke is a conservative rural town with a population of just under 50,000, surrounded by a farming community made up of mainly white Afrikaners.
Sello Lehare, the education minister for the North West province, said the school's explanation was that "the learners were separated according to those who could understand Afrikaans and English".
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He added: "We are suspending her [the teacher] because we want the investigation to be fair and free".
Nearly 25 years after the white-ruled majority came to an end in South Africa, this sad incident regarding racism questions otherwise.
