Hoërskool Rob Ferreira sorry for racist wording

Principal Dawie Oberholzer said the content of the assignment did not originate from the school, but was taken from a Facebook page by the head of the department and sent to subject teachers to look at and determine whether it could be of any use. It was then sent to learners as an assignment without educators screening it for suitability. The assignment has since been withdrawn and replaced by a new one.

“We are upset and disappointed about the whole incident. I am very aware of the difficult times that we are living in and how an incident like this can escalate. We only have to look at what is happening in the US at the moment to see what this could lead to. This is not the way we do things at our school. The content is derogatory and inappropriate for learners,” Oberholzer said.

“The actions of the teachers involved will be subjected to the necessary corrective measures. The outcome of this will expectedly prevent such a situation in future.”

In the letter to parents, Rob Ferreira said the aim and content was never intended to harm any race or person.

“The assignment was not designed or manipulated by the school with regard to content. Furthermore, the teachers obtained it from a social media school subject platform where it appeared as a life orientation worksheet for grade 11 learners, under the logo of a school from another province. This assignment appeared to have been used by at least four schools in three other provinces as part of their holiday programme, appearing on their websites.”

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As far as Rob Ferreira could establish, the “original” text was written by a public figure under the name of “I Jokes Zesixhosa” on a social media platform.

“Disappointingly, the content was not screened and was released unmoderated to the unfortunate pupils. The reason why it was not screened was because the worksheet had already appeared under the logo of numerous other schools. It is also our sincere hope, if possible, that we can all come to the objective understanding that Rob Ferreira as a school, the staff, learners and school governing body endeavour to create reciprocal respect among the various cultures in our school.

“This incident does not help in any way to cultivate and improve the racial harmony and is therefore even more unfortunate.

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“What all our learners achieve here at Rob during their school career and life thereafter is testimony that the true nature of education and opportunities in this institution, is contrary to the stereotyping accusations that the school is racist.

“Rob Ferreira respectfully requests all stakeholders to objectively and responsibly refrain from generalising this incident as part of its education and the characteristics of teachers and learners,” the letter concluded.