The dream of an SA rainbow nation seems to be far from fruition if recent incidents of alleged racism are used as a yardstick.
The latest incident happened at Hoërskool Jan Viljoen when parents, pupils, police and private security clashed over a racist incident after an altercation between black and white pupils. The racial divisions played themselves out when black and coloured pupils together with their parents barricaded streets in protest as white parents formed a blockade in front of the school gate in an attempt to stop anyone from entering.
To make matters worse, black and coloured pupils were reportedly sprayed with a water canon by private security deployed by the school to quell the tensions.
At the heart of the altercation are claims of victimisation of black pupils by white teachers and pupils with allegations of the blatant use of the k-word. It is disheartening that incidents of racism still find place in SA almost three decades after the advent of democracy.
That they take place at school, a place where minds are moulded, is a further blow to non-racism and a threat to the future of our nation. Education is supposed to be the best tool for tackling racism and any other form of discrimination and building inclusive societies.
Children should be taught early about equality, respect and tolerance. In my language we say “thupa e kojwa e sa le metsi” which literally translates to a stick can only be bent and shaped while it is wet. This is because when it is dry it will break. In the Book of Proverbs 22:6, the advice is to “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The issue of race and racism has historical resonance with SA and is beginning to seem implacable. The late American poet Maya Angelou asserted, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.”
To ease the burden of racism on SA children, the education system and institutions have a huge role and responsibility to address and eliminate this scourge by supporting schools to implement progressive policies geared towards racially integrated schools. This would help to promote greater social cohesion and cross-race relationships.
The training and recruitment of teachers should also accord with the diversity of pupils. It flies in the face of principled integration to have an all-white teaching complement in a school where the majority of pupils are black.
Likewise, school governance structures should also reflect pupil demographics. Parents should be included in decision-making processes of the school. Teachers need to be trained to work with children from different backgrounds.
The curriculum should also be examined from multiple vantage points wherein history and indigenous knowledge should be placed at the core of teaching. This would serve to link the past to the present and the breaking of stereotypes and racial cocoons. Racism should be outed as an anachronism and untenable.
The United Nations secretary-general Antonio Gutteres affirms by stating, “The position of the UN on racism is crystal clear. This scourge violates the UN Charter and debases our core values. Every day, in our work across the world, we strive to do our part to promote inclusion, justice, dignity and combat racism in all its manifestations.”
To subject pupils to racism at school can only result in negative repercussions for our education system. The experience of racism can provoke various stress responses. Coming from teachers, it can create negative attitudes about school and lower academic motivation and performance, and heighten possibilities of pupils dropping out of school.
To address the problem of racism in school, the government, civil society and schools should strive to ensure human rights education is offered and that it reflects the diversity and plurality of the school population.
Schools should adopt codes of conduct against racism and discrimination which can be in the form of racist comments, behaviour or school policies that perpetuate racism or allow it to continue. Schools and homes should work in tandem to ensure that racial attitudes are eliminated as racism is learned and can therefore be unlearned.
The final word on the matter has to belong to Terry Oakley Smith, a psychology lecturer and transformation specialist from the University of the Witwatersrand, who states, “I think we need to address the issue of integration because what is seemingly happening in many ex-Model C schools is that, yes, lots of black pupils are coming in, but they are expected to fit into the culture.
“In other words, they are required to assimilate. What is not happening is there is no new culture emerging in which everybody feels they play a part and they belong, which would be integration.”
I have nothing more to add to such perspicacity.
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