Crawford College fires teacher over racist lesson, says pupils have been offered counselling

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Crawford Pretoria College principal Cheryl Naidoo says the school denounces any form of prejudice and discrimination.


Crawford Pretoria College principal Cheryl Naidoo says the school denounces any form of prejudice and discrimination.

  • A substitute teacher was dismissed from Crawford International after writing down racially offensive terms during class on Monday.
  • The incident has since gone viral on social media.
  • The Gauteng Department of Education has condemned the incident and says the teacher has been reported to the SA Council for Educators.

Crawford International says a substitute teacher who was filmed writing racist terms on a whiteboard while teaching pupils at its Pretoria college has been dismissed and reported to the SA Council for Educators.

The private education group said it would also be taking legal action against the 82-year-old substitute teacher.

Video footage shows the woman writing racially offensive terms on a whiteboard and allegedly telling pupils that they are not affected by apartheid. The children can be heard gasping as she writes and speaks.

“This can’t be,” one pupil said. Other children could be seen filming the words on the whiteboard. 

The video was widely shared on social media.

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According to initial reports, the woman was teaching provocative language during an English class on Monday and allegedly told pupils they must not be hurt when racially offensive terms were used because they were not affected by apartheid.

The school fired the teacher later that day, said the Gauteng Department of Education, which supported Crawford’s dismissal of the educator.

The department said the teacher’s actions “are vehemently unacceptable and have undeniable racist undertones which will not be tolerated in any aspect of our education sector”.

Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane condemned the incident, saying the teacher was promoting racism.

Chiloane said:

It is distasteful to see individuals with whom we have entrusted the education of our children using 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.

 

The department applauded the efforts by the school to provide counselling to the pupils and review its recruitment measures “to avoid enlisting candidates who may potentially threaten the delivery of quality education and learning”.

Crawford International – Pretoria principal, Cheryl Naidoo, said the school denounced any form of prejudice and discrimination. 

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Naidoo said the school was “shocked and dismayed” and “deeply regrets the unacceptable racist incident”.

She said the school would also be taking legal action against the teacher.

“We deeply regret the incident, and the offence and hurt caused to our students, parents, our community, and the country as a whole,” she said. 

Naidoo said the school had made counselling available to the pupils who experienced the incident, as well as all pupils, on Wednesday.  

“Students and parents will further be offered the opportunity for extended counselling, as we understand the long-term impact of racism,” she said in the statement.




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