It took one girl to stand up to traditions regarding the code of conduct to alter the course of history in South African schools.

Since the racist remarks and discriminatory rules were highlighted by grade nine pupils at Pretoria High School for Girls, many learners and former learners have spoken out.

The latest school to be rocked by the movement is Sans Souci Girls’ High School here in Cape Town.

According to EWN:

One young woman says she and her classmates are often berated for speaking Xhosa during break time.

“I think it should be allowed for you to speak another language. A lot of the time it’s not allowed and you will go to detention or you’ll get a demerit because of the fact you speak a different language other than English.”

Former learner Billie-Jean Stockenstroom-Demas said, “In 2007 I was in Grade nine and I was dealing with a bit of like a bullying issue at school. The teacher sent me to the principal’s office to go and explain to her what was happening and before she would speak to me or deal with the issue of me being bullied, she told me to remove my braids because ‘girls like me don’t wear braids.’”

According to the education department’s Paddy Attwell, the school is apparently making changes.

“We are very concerned about any allegation of racism and discrimination and we will investigate. Our manager visited the school this morning, which explained that they are in a process of rewriting their code of conduct and has been doing so for some time.”

Hopefully that’s not the last school to come under fire for its actions.

[source:ewn]