Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge has responded to allegations of racism put forward them by a group of current and past learners.
This after a number of schools across the country faced similar allegations amid the current Black Lives Matter protests in the USA. After the killing of an unarmed black person in Minnesota in America, thousands of people across the globe have participated in #BlackLivesMatter protests to raise awareness about all forms of racism that persist in society, both overt and covert systemic racism. This called in to question some of the structures that are still considered to be racist by many in our own country. A group of past and current learners of Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge has come together to appeal for immediate action to be taken against alleged systemic racism they feel is very active at the school.
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In a statement circulated on numerous community groups on Facebook, the group claimed that they stood in solidarity with the protests across the globe, and learners who may have felt victimised after voicing their opinions on the matter publicly. The group’s statement said, ‘We stand in solidarity with these students and recognise that the existing discriminatory culture of the school creates and perpetuates a visibly unequal community.’Ours is a call to proactively identify and uproot racist and discriminatory systems within the school. We demand that school policies and practices be changes and that these changes should intentionally create awareness and safe spaces to allow the school to evolve. We hope for the school to develop and embrace a culture of equality and mutual respect.’
The letter called on the headmaster and school management to commit to a process to engage in transformation. The school’s headmaster Farone Eckstein issued a statement on 5 June in response to these allegations. In it, Eckstein said he wished to apologise unreservedly for his initial management of the matters brought to his attention. He added, “I realise that this response has been triggered by my less than adequate engagement with the two students who raised the racism concerns on social media. “
As a school, we hold ourselves responsible for not being more effective in creating an environment in which students do not feel it is necessary to use social media to be heard. We will set a course ensuring students are confident such matters can be raised in a safe school environment, and that they can do this with confidence that they will be heard.”He admitted that what was now being reported goes back several years.Several community members reacted to the group’s post shared on social media, with some rejecting the claims of discrimination, while many past learners and parents confirmed incidents of racial and other forms of discrimination.
Eckstein continued, “It is clear we are dealing with entrenched, unacceptable practices and racism. We will be engaging an external partner to help us chart and traverse this process, to address these unacceptable realities in our school.”The school is being well supported by both my school management team as well as the brand management team, and in the next two weeks we will share how we are going to take this forward for the school community.”Eckstein noted that this has brought to light the need for the school to be more proactive in their dealings with racism at their school. He has therefore decided to start a forum to drive engagement with past learners that will facilitate these conversations in the broader school community.
The group acknowledged that the school had taken steps to create a forum of discussion, but did not believe that this was an effective mechanism to deal with the serious allegations of systemic injustice issues raised by learners at the school. The group called for various measures to be taken, including the creation of an open and transparent space where learners and parents could hold conversations, as well as a formal and transparent plan to address these issues.
They also called for disciplinary action to be taken against any staff member or learners who engaged in any form of racism, as well as regular race and diversity workshops to take place to help to educate all on issues of race and discrimination.
