Johnathan Paoli
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane supports the dismissal of a Grade 8 substitute teacher at Crawford International Pretoria College, who was seen promoting racism in a classroom on a video recorded by learners, which has since gone viral.
The department visited the school on Wednesday, 26 July 2023 to ascertain further details surrounding the incident.
According to reports the incident occurred on Monday during an English class.
The video footage taken by the learners in her class showed the educator writing racism remarks on a whiteboard. The footage surfaced on social media later that afternoon and the 82-year-old substitute teacher was dismissed by the school that same evening.
The educator was teaching provocative language and allegedly told learners that they must not be hurt when the ‘k-word’ is used on them because they were not affected by apartheid.
Chiloane said her actions are vehemently unacceptable and have undeniable racist undertones which will not be tolerated in any aspect of our education sector.
“The teacher will also be reported to the South African Council for Educators (SACE) for investigation and deregistration so that she is not allowed to teach our children any further,” he said.
He said it is encouraging that the school has begun providing counseling to the learners affected by the incident.
According to the MEC, the school also undertook to review its recruitment measures to avoid enlisting candidates who may potentially threaten the delivery of quality education and learning.
“It is distasteful to see individuals who we have entrusted with the education of our children use that valuable time to push their own villainous agendas and poison the minds of our learners.
“We condemn, in the strongest sense, the behaviour of this educator and any others who may want to behave in such an unpalatable manner. We applaud the school for taking a swift decision in removing this educator immediately and being keen to take further remedial steps of action alongside the Department,” said Chiloane.
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