CAPE TOWN - Good Hope Seminary School pupils in Cape Town staged a protest on Tuesday morning against what they called systematic discrimination and racism at the school.
The Grade 12-led demonstration outside the school premises was sparked by an incident on May 12, in which a coloured pupil allegedly called a black pupil by the derogatory term “n*****”.
According to a pupil representative, Zethu Hlabeni, their issue was with the school, which allegedly cornered the victim in a meeting where she was requested to apologise.
“The incident happened on Thursday in the school premises. The victim went home and wrote a status on her phone expressing that she was hurt by what the other learner had repeatedly said to her.
“She did not name her in the status, so everyone was still wondering who the other learner was.
“We assume she felt intimidated because she came with her parents to school. The victim was called to a meeting without a representative or her parents being called too. That is where she was threatened that her head girl title will be stripped away and will no longer be among the learner representatives at school. So she had to apologise,” said Hlabeni.
She said they demanded that the school take active steps to reform.
According to the pupil the incident was a build-up from many incidents, including teachers allegedly referring to pupils as looking like domestic workers.
The school principal referred all media comments to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).
More on this story will follow in the Cape Times newspaper.
Cape Times