Yesterday, girls at Sans Souci joined the growing number of schools in South Africa standing up against elements of racism they face every day.

From dated regulations on hair conduct to not being able to speak their mother tongue during school hours, more and more of the absurd discriminatory rules faced by the learners are being spoken about.

At Sans Souci, the issue is more about the girls not being allowed to speak their mother tongue.

They showed the media the “San Souci Girls’ High School Yellow Book”, a system of recording a pupil’s merits and demerits – but students are saying that the system is discriminatory because it includes penalisation if they speak their mother tongue:

 Who is this “MS”? How could a teacher ever have the audacity to write that? This is not 1986.

Pupils of #SansSouci explain how they’ve been getting demerits for speaking in their mother tongue. @DailyVoiceSA pic.twitter.com/KlcFvl4gCP

— Bertram malgas (@malgasie) September 1, 2016

The girls who were protesting were in grade 11 and, although the protest was peaceful, the school locked the gates and police were dispatched in the afternoon.

While the Western Cape Department of Education (WCED) is currently reviewing the code of conduct since the protest of girls at Pretoria High School for Girls, Sans Souci has agreed to change its code of conduct – although they are unsure whether the governing body will agree.

Girls from Westerford and the UCT Fees Must Fall movement joined in solidarity.

[source:mg]