Dehumanised and disrespected is how distraught Riebeek College Girls’ High School pupils described numerous incidents of alleged racism at the hands of at least five teachers at the Uitenhage school.
Principal Kieran Stear confirmed the five teachers are under investigation.
Several reports, in which pupils detail alleged racist comments from the teachers, have been handed to the department of education.
The first-hand accounts from pupils include incidents where teachers are believed to have distinguished between “black noise” and “white noise”, allegedly noting that the former was “more disruptive and uncontrollable”.
The music black pupils listened to was also purportedly labelled as “baboon music”.
Some of the teachers also allegedly took issue with the girls speaking Xhosa and referring to black pupils as “you people”.
A group of pupils, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had first handed Stear an anti-racism petition which was signed by 107 pupils earlier in 2018.
“This petition is from the dejected and violated pupils of Riebeek College Girls’ High School [and] draws the attention of the principal and whom it may concern among authority to the racist remarks and unfair racial treatment by [the teachers],” the petition reads.
In the petition, pupils described one teacher’s comments as “disgusting and extreme”.
The same teacher – whose name is known to Weekend Post – is alleged to have made a rape comment in class, the pupils said.
In the incident, pupils told Weekend Post, the teacher made a comment after he heard a noise outside class.
“It was after break, and then some girls screamed and then he [the teacher] was like, ‘oh, do you hear that? I just know that’s a black girl – it’s only black girls that scream like that. Like they’re being raped’,” one pupil said.
In a separate incident, another pupil said: “In grade 7, we were in class and [the teacher] said, ‘I have a joke – they say that the reason why black people are so dumb is because they carry buckets of water on their heads and every time they do that, their brains get smaller and smaller’.”
The pupils said despite being warned they were “opening a can of worms” they had handed the petition to Stear.
“She later responded to say she needs written reports because we are making accusations without evidence. And then we handed her those as well,” another pupil said.
In one of the submissions, a pupil, wrote: “We had assembly and there was something being announced. So, as usual, the entire school went wild because we were excited.
“After assembly, the grade 10 pupils had business studies with [the teacher]. She made a comment about how she didn’t like the noise the pupils were making in the hall.
“Then she carried on to say how there is a difference between ‘black noise’ and ‘white noise’ and the noise that was being made was ‘black noise’ because it was ‘disruptive and uncontrollable’.”
The pupils said they were demanding public apologies from the teachers concerned, as well as disciplinary action.
“We feel dehumanised and disrespected. It’s not like we chose to be black and we also didn’t ask for the school to open up its doors to us as black people. So if it’s hard for them to accept us, why have us there?” a pupil said.
Stear, who said allegations of racism were viewed as a serious matter, confirmed she had forwarded the pupils’ petition and their letters to the department of education.
“I have investigated the matter, interviewed each teacher and noted their responses. Each teacher has written me a report and I have drafted my own report.
Department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said a meeting would take place on Tuesday.