Westville Girls’ High School English educator, Danielle De Bruyn resigned after she received backlash for allegedly using the k-word in her class. It was reported that the teacher went off on a “tangent” during a class literature discussion. The educator reportedly resigned on Monday, 27 August, after the school launched an investigation on Friday, 24 August.
The school’s principal, Catherine Raw issued a statement on Tuesday, apologising for the incident. According to reports, Raw wrote that she was made aware of the incident on Thursday, 23 August and was sad and troubled by the educators actions.
“One of our staff stepped out of her role of educator and used her position of parent in the classroom to make racist remarks and share her biased opinion of the South African political situation. By doing this, not only did she break the law and violate the code of the school, but she also created a hurtful and unsafe environment for the learners in her class,” said Raw in the statement.
KZN spokesperson for the Education Department, Kwazi Mthethwa said: “We condemn racism, all schools are expected to uphold the values and principles enshrined in the Constitution. We are not going to waste any time, we will deal with this right away.”
Mthethwa added that the KZN MEC of Education Mthandeni Dlungwana hates racism with a passion. “In fact he’s addicted to non-racialism. He is not going to allow learners to be reminded of apartheid. We will make contact with this school urgently,” added Mthethwa.
Yonela Gwijana said her friend’s little cousin who was in the class at the time had told her about what happened.
“You know it’s so disappointing that In 2018 we are fighting against the same issues of race our parents fought over,” she said.
“I want her to be punished but does punishment make one suddenly stop being racist? No. It’s really a tough situation,” added Gwijana.
The Westville Gazette could not reach De Bruyn for comment at the time of going to press.
