Cape Town - Allegations of racism, discrimination and a lack of transformation at St Cyprian’s School in Vredehoek have surfaced following the publication of a TikTok video in which a student claimed her class was responsible for a teacher’s dismissal merely because they did not like him.
The video, now removed, led to the conversation spilling over into other social media platforms, with former students sharing their experiences of microaggressions, racism, discrimination and more, particularly in the boarding houses, at the elite all-girls high school.
The clip shows a white student dancing to music and is captioned, “I knew my class was untouchable when we got our English teacher fired because we didn’t like him.” The student identifies the teacher in a smaller caption beneath the main one.
The black teacher claims he was unfairly dismissed for using inappropriate language in class when referencing a prescribed poem.
The teacher, who spoke to the Cape
Argus anonymously, said his dismissal had been orchestrated by the learners.
The former teacher said the school’s management hid behind policies and procedures to get rid of unwanted, mostly black, teachers.
“The student seems to be celebrating my dismissal and claims that the white students who made spurious/ frivolous, but career-damaging, allegations against me are ‘untouchable’. Whatever they say goes. If they want a teacher fired, they will surely get that done by the school management.”
He said that some white teachers had not been dismissed for similar, if not worse, offences.
“The board endorsed my dismissal, saying everything done during my disciplinary hearing was above board, yet the school relied on hearsay evidence. No offended student testified at the disciplinary inquiry,” he added.
When contacted for further information, the school said it would review the request by the Cape Argus.
In correspondence sent to the school community, principal Shelley Frayne said the school had noted with great concern the recent video and Twitter posts highlighting the school’s shortcomings in transformation.
“We apologise unreservedly to our community and all our stakeholders … No person should ever endure racialised trauma at school, whether as a student or as a staff member, and we are devastated that this continues to happen.”
Frayne said the school had initiated an internal disciplinary process over the video, led by an independent external chairperson.
“We acknowledge that, as a majority-white school, we are still falling dismally short in creating a school where all our students feel a sense of belonging. While we cannot mend the past, we are committed to learning from it every day.”
Frayne called it a “teachable moment” that would allow the school to take stock, and said additional appointments in 2023 would allow the school to learn from its alumni in order to do better for current and future students.
Former student Lunati Kanti Dalasile, 18, said she could not fault the school on its academic standards, but admitted the social experience had been characterised by racism, causing damage to her mental health.
“This year, two black teachers were dismissed because white students did not like them, and so they complained. The teachers do not get to see what the complaints are, and they get to sign a non-disclosure form so they cannot go out and share their experience and the truth. Hence everything continues as though normal,” she said.