The image above is of a group of students on their first day of school. If you look closely, you’ll notice that all of the white students are seated at the long table in the centre of the classroom, while the black students are seated at a small table at the back.
If we take into account South Africa’s long and violent history of racial segregation then it should come as no surprise that the photo, taken by a primary school teacher at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke in a small town in the North West, has sparked an outcry.
In fact, it’s sparked such an outcry that even the BBC has covered it:
The BBC’s Milton Nkosi in South Africa says Schweizer-Reneke is 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”.
According to News24, the school claims that the photo merely captured a “moment in time”, and “was not a true reflection of the school ethos”.
The school went on to share the following photos showing integration in the classroom.
The images have done little to diffuse the situation, and protestors massed outside the building on Thursday.
Naturally, the EFF was there:
Provincial education minister Sello Lehare was dispatched to the school on a fact-finding mission.
After meeting school staff and education department officials, Mr Lehare confirmed that the form teacher in question had been suspended.
“As government, we would like to condemn any form of racism, alleged or not, and we deeply regret this unfortunate incident taking place in our country 25 years into democracy,” said a spokesperson for the local government leader, Job Lekgoro.
A teacher from a neighbouring school told News24 that the classroom incident is indicative of a bigger problem at the school and in the community.
“We often visit the school to hold workshops and I have never seen black people playing with their white peers. Children play separately according to race. They don’t mix at all. We have always wanted to march against the school and have never done so.
Another resident claimed that black children were often denied access to the school and were placed on waiting lists when they applied for enrolment.
“We hear complaints that black children are often threatened by white pupils not to touch them or else they tell their fathers who have guns to deal with them.”
She claimed that some parents carried guns on their waists when dropping their children off or fetching them from school.
Whether or not the picture is a true indication of the classroom dynamics, or an unfortunate moment in a series of shots (including those above), it appears to have opened up some very necessary debate in a town that appears to be very divided.
