BARBERTON – A grade 11 learner from Kamhola Secondary School was allegedly suspended for being a lesbian and wearing trousers last Thursday.
Sources at the school reported that the drama started when teachers checked learners at the gate to see whether they wore “the right school uniform”.
The girl, who is 17 years old, granted Mpumalanga News a telephonic interview yesterday.
She confirmed that she was a lesbian and informed us that she was currently (yesterday) locked in a meeting with the the local circuit manager at the school, concerning the matter.
She claimed that in her suspension letter did not state that she had been suspended because she was a lesbian, “but the teacher said it verbally when I asked why she was suspending me”.
“I further probed her on why she made fun of me in front of other learners, she said we would talk about it at a later stage,” said the learner.
The teacher who conducted the uniform checks is alleged to have consulted with the deputy principal and requested a suspension letter for the learner.
She was then issued with the suspension letter.
One learner said, “The trousers are part of our school uniform, but they said we must stop wearing them because it was hot, we must rather wear trousers in winter.
Despite that, the teacher who suspended this learner actually caused her so much disgrace and it was an insult, to say the least,” she explained.
When this reporter visited the school on Tuesday morning, she spotted two learners being sent home because they were wearing trousers.
These incidents sent shock waves through the community and have aroused concern among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Action Group (LGBT) activists in the Lowveld region.
The coordinator of LGBT, Mr Joy Kunene said,
“It’s very disturbing to hear that bisexual people are still not accepted in our society and their rights are still violated. This learner was not supposed to be suspended from school because of her gender preferences. We are living in a free country. We will deal with the matter further if she will report to our office. Her rights have been violated.”
On Friday a hearing was conducted by the Commission on Gender Equality at the school.
It was attended by the school principal, the deputy principal and the suspended learner.
The school acknowledged it had made a mistake by suspending the pupil. It was duly agreed that she should report for school on Monday.
She returned to school on Monday but was served with a letter of suspension on arrival.
The coordinator of the Commission for Gender Equality in the Mpumalanga, Ms Molta Mavuso said, “We are going to engage with the department of education as we know that the department is against the harassment of learners on the ground of gender discrimination. If the department fails to resolve this matter, we are going to take it to Equality Court,” she said.
Spokesperson for the education department, Mr Jasper Zwane said, “We are aware of the issue”.
