Gauteng schools face scrutiny over language and admissions policies

Gauteng schools, including Pretoria High School for Girls and Paramaribo Primary School, have come under fire from the portfolio committee on basic education for their language and admissions policies.

This week, the committee continued its oversight visit to schools in Gauteng to assess the state of readiness for the 2025 academic year.

On Tuesday, the committee conducted an oversight visit to Pretoria High School for Girls, where chairperson Joy Maimela highlighted issues related to language, admissions, and racial incidents.

‘They are not prioritising other indigenous languages’

Pretoria High School for Girls has been in the news numerous times for alleged racism at the school, including an incident in 2024 where 12 pupils were suspended on claims of racism linked to their involvement in a WhatsApp group.

“The school has previously been in the media about race-related incidents. Some of the incidents are still being investigated; they are ongoing,” Maimela said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The school speaks about multilingualism and the importance of home language. However, the school only offers English, Afrikaans and Sepedi. They are not prioritising other indigenous languages.”

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The chairperson added that the committee also wants an investigation into the misuse of the school vehicle. According to her, the principal’s husband, who is not employed by the school or the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), uses the school vehicles.

“The principal confirmed this. This is unacceptable. The department needs to investigate this irregularity,” Maimela said.

The committee has also raised concerns about the recruitment of the principal’s daughter a few years ago.

Employee and educator demographics

Maimela also noted the “skewed employee and educator” demographics at the girls’ school.

“The majority of the educators are white. We want to know how they do recruitment and why is their recruitment skewed towards a certain race,” she elaborated.

In December, the Pretoria High Court struck off an urgent application by the school governing body’s (SGB) to compel the GDE to release a report on alleged racism at the school and found “no logic” in withholding the information.

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While the court suggested the SGB could use the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to obtain the report, teachers’ union, Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (SAOU), also pursued a PAIA request. It threatened legal action if the GDE failed to comply.

On Tuesday, the committee also visited Filadelfia Secondary School for Learners with Special Education Needs and Paramaribo Primary School in Soshanguve.

The implications of financial constraints on the provision of services at the schools were evident, the committee said.

Mother-tongue education not being prioritised

“We are concerned that mother-tongue education is not being prioritised at Paramaribo Primary School, as parents are not prioritising the utilisation of mother-tongue education,” Maimela said.

The focus areas of the visits are learner admissions and teacher/learner ratios, early childhood development, National Senior Certificate 2024 results and improvement plans for 2025, and curriculum implementation, including coding and robotics, mathematics, science, and technology.

Visits to other schools in Gauteng will continue until the end of the week.