GDE to deliver outcome of probe into racism allegations at Pretoria High School for Girls
In August, the school cleared the girls of wrongdoing, following an independent disciplinary hearing but the department’s investigation continued.
Pretoria School for Girls. Picture: Screenshot
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) will deliver the outcomes of its investigation into racism allegations at the Pretoria High School for Girls on Monday.
The probe was launched in July when it emerged that 12 pupils were accused of being involved in the sharing of racist micro-aggressions on a whites-only WhatsApp group.
In August, the school cleared the girls of wrongdoing, following an independent disciplinary hearing but the department’s investigation continued.
When the allegations of a whites-only WhatsApp group by pupils at the Pretoria Girls High School emerged in July, the GDE suspended the school's headmistress, Phillipa Erasmus.
The school continued with its hearings chaired by an advocate who handed over its report to the governing body when a decision clearing all 12 suspended girls of any wrongdoing was made.
On Monday, Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane will release the findings of the department's probe.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for the school principal to be reinstated.
The party’s Ergio Isa dos Santo says the suspension has placed an emotional toll on the principal as she had not been briefed about the outcome of her suspension more than three months after the fact and hadn’t been given a charge sheet detailing the allegations against her.