Roedean ‘thinks equal’ and will tackle discrimination, which ‘will arise’

An expert interim committee has been appointed at the prestigious Roedean School in Johannesburg to deal with complaints of discrimination.

This comes in the wake of a racist incident on October 30, when a nine-year-old took a photograph of her classmate, then added the word “chimpanzee” next to the image before sending it to her.

The girl who sent the photograph had earlier told the other pupil, after taking her picture, that “someone laughs like a monkey here”.

Both pupils are from the St Margaret’s section of the junior school at the 117-year-old private institution.

Fiona Rogers, executive head of Roedean School, told Sunday Times Daily their primary focus has been to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the girls.

“The school has processes in place to deal with incidents of racism and these have been followed with both sets of parents.

“More importantly, we at Roedean recognise that the school is a microcosm of society and incidents of racism will arise in the deeply fractured society in which we live. We do not tolerate incidents of racism and discrimination at Roedean as they are in breach of our values and code of conduct.”

The school has processes in place to deal with incidents of racism and these have been followed with both sets of parents.

—  Fiona Rogers, executive head of Roedean School

She said the school runs age-appropriate programmes for the youngest to oldest pupils, including Think Equal, a social justice and diversity curriculum and racial literacy workshops.

The Think Equal programme, implemented in grades 0 to 3, uses narrative books to give young people a grounding in, among other things, equality, empathy, peaceful conflict resolution, gender sensitisation and gender equality.

All staff participated in a two-day racial literacy workshop in August.

Roedean told parents in a letter dated November 25 that its transformation strategic plan provides for the creation of an intentional succession-planning strategy.

“Strong candidates of colour have been shortlisted for the post of director of academic operations and an appointment is imminent.”

According to the document, more than 50% of appointments over the past two years have been people of colour.

The school is also planning to introduce a more representative pastoral-care team.

It said the South African Old Roedeanian Association (SAORA) has identified two old girls, who are psychologists, and a psychiatrist who are willing to assist.

Strong candidates of colour have been shortlisted for the post of director of academic operations and an appointment is imminent.

—  Fiona Rogers, executive head of Roedean School

Roedean parents were also given a copy of the school’s finalised anti-discrimination policy, which states that teachers can play a significant role “in mediating the negative effect of racism in classrooms and on school grounds”.

“They are well placed to start conversations in pupils’ early lives and to use creative teaching strategies to disrupt the rigid narratives of race.”

According to the document, unacceptable acts of unfair discrimination include:

• Direct physical assault or threat of assault based on prejudice;
• Name-calling, joke-making or bullying of individuals or groups;
• Micro-aggressions; and
• Any other act based on prejudice that involves the marginalising of others.

Members of the interim discrimination complaints committee include advocate Carol Steinberg, Dr Sharon Munyaka, an organisational psychologist, Allan Magubane, a deputy headmaster at Johannesburg’s St John’s College and Nkateko Khoza, CEO of Dzana Investments.

They will hear the views of both parties and recommend steps the school should take.

“This will vary from case to case, ranging from a mediated discussion between the parties to a disciplinary hearing,” the document states.

Gushwell Brooks, spokesperson for the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), said he would have to check whether a complaint about the incident had been lodged with its Gauteng office before commenting.