Learners at Witbank Technical High School in Mpumalanga have returned after classes were suspended last week due to allegations of racism and discrimination. The learners have welcomed the interventions by the Mpumalanga provincial government to curb the fighting occurring at the school.
Two teachers have been placed on precautionary suspension for failing to address the issue appropriately.
The Department of Education suspended classes last week after parents and community members clashed outside the school following claims of racism and discrimination.
It is believed that the protest was sparked by a fight between a white and a black pupil. It is alleged that the white pupil used the K-word when referring to the black pupil.
The school only suspended the black pupil. Five learners have now been suspended including two teachers following the incident.
Some of the learners have welcomed the interventions by the Mpumalanga government.
Some community members say the problems at the school are not new:
Government intervention
Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane says their plan is to ensure peace and stability in the school. She says they also zoomed into the policies of the school to ensure that they accommodate everyone.
“As you can see they are here today also to make sure that we deploy our social unit so that they take them through sociologically not just the children but also the teachers because of course there are gaps that we have identified to foster socio integration and social cohesion. “
She says they also instructed the school management to ensure that the School Governing Body (SGB) and School Representative Council (SRC) include other races.
“There’s going to be another meeting where parents will sit again, nominate themselves, parents from grade eight up to grade 11 to be members of the SGB and again we looked at the staff component of the school, it is purely white, it does not represent the rainbow nation. So, we have put up a team of management from the provincial government that will assist the school during the intake from the next academic year which will reflect a fair representation.”
SGB willing to cooperate
The chairperson of the SGB, Tinus Cronje says they are ready to bring in other races. “We will gladly join hands with the Department of Education in the way forward and make sure that we are representative of the whole community in the school structure with regards to the election of the SGB as recommended by the department. “
The Mpumalanga provincial government says it will remain at the school to ensure that the school delivers its mandate of educating the children.
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