POLL | Should Curro staff be enrolled in race sensitivity training?

Curro Academy’s recent controversy, which has been slammed as racially insensitive, has prompted some South Africans to call for staff members at the private school group to enrol for courses that will ensure harmful stereotypes are avoided in future.

The group was entangled in a faux pas when it shared a picture of pupils dressed as different professionals. The white children were depicted as medical practitioners while a black pupil was assigned the job of cashier.

This outraged many, who accused the school of perpetuating harmful stereotypes and even subtly programming black pupils to be less ambitious by encouraging low-paying jobs while white students go to university and become professionals.

Although the institution apologised at the weekend, the Gauteng department of education (GDE) said there was an urgent need to investigate the constitutionality of Curro’s value system, and whether there is enough conscientisation of racial equality and human rights across all its institutions and personnel.

“The GDE does not take such racial incidents lightly as they may be cultivating attitudes which reflect a society that has not fully dealt with racism,” said department spokesperson Steve Mabona. “This poses a threat not only to the education system and the model citizens it envisages to create but also to a nation that still tirelessly works towards overcoming such attitudes.”

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