#StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh

#StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh: Gauteng Education MEC promises to investigate

Students at Pretoria Girls High have been protesting against being told to straighten their hair and prevented from speaking “any language other than English”.

#StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh

Panyaza Lesufi, MEC for Education in Gauteng, has promised to investigate claims of racism at Pretoria Girls’ High. #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh started trending on Twitter on Sunday and stems from a protest at the school with black pupils saying the were told to straighten or relax their hair and “stop speaking anything but English”.

A video, filmed at the school on Friday, went viral over the weekend. It features a young student standing up to an adult male. In another video, security can be heard telling the young learners that all of them will be arrested.

According to an online petition, learners have also been accused of ” conspiring when standing in groups and face other intolerable comments and actions”.

 

Lesufi said he would be visiting the school on Monday.

Lesufi told Radio 702 that despite students being told only English is allowed to be spoken, he had heard allegations that when pupils spoke Afrikaans, no action was taken.

“No wonder you black girls don’t excel academically, you’re always focused on the so-called racial issues of the school,” one teacher allegedly told the protesting learners.