Bishops Matric class demand radical reform to school’s racism policy
Amidst the global protest over the disproportionate, discriminatory treatment of people of colour within society’s institutions and social structures, one of South Africa’s most elite private schools has penned a list of demands that they insist must be enforced in order to instigate a period of real transformative change.
Cape Town’s Bishops Diocesan College’s Matric class of 2020 has had enough of the institutional biases and prejudices that are parasitically existent in schools and have called for education on the issues their non-white peers face to be enforced at scale.
List of demands
The Class of 2020 demand the following:
- Ground and cleaning staff children should have access to the same bursaries and scholarships made available to the children of teachers, with better facilities and meals made available to them.
- Grade 8’s, teachers, and parents must attend compulsory discussions about the oppression of minorities and vulnerable groups, with the discussions provided by external bodies and not by “in-house” structures.
- The hair policy must be abolished.
- More equitable representation of various race groups in the executive board, OD (alumni) committee and Student Leadership Council (SLC), with a better system of representation for issues to be presented to these bodies by affected students.
- Disciplinary committees must be diverse and representative, with staff facing more severe repercussions for actions that oppress vulnerable groups.
- Students too must face more severe punishment for such abhorrent actions.
- An official statement from the school condemning racism and all oppression of minority and vulnerable groups, as well as an acknowledgement of the school’s history of racism and negligence when dealing with social issues.
- An expansion and endorsement of isiXhosa at Bishops.
- The replacement of Life Orientation classes with discussions around contemporary social issues in the South African context, with the entire school syllabus undergoing a process of decolonisation.
- Abolish any opportunity for teachers or students to use the N-word or the K-word, specifically when reciting academic readings. This would not apply to people who are victimised by such slurs.
- Safe spaces should be established for vulnerable students where white people are not prohibited.
- The establishment of a Pride Society that creates a safe space for LGBTQI+ students at Bishops, as well as a feminist society that promotes women’s empowerment and seeks to eradicate rape culture at Bishops.
- They said that each teacher and person in the Bishops management structure sign these demands by no later than 28 June 2020.
Peaceful protest
The school hosted a peaceful protest on Friday 5 June at the Southern Suburbs based school, with outgoing headmaster Guy Pearson saying the school would actively seek to enforce the students’ demands.
“This was a peaceful protest and at the end, a memorandum was presented to a member of the executive. This will be an ideal opportunity to continue the engagement with all members of our community regarding these issues in our school,” he said in a statement on Friday.
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