School has political agenda, says mother
"You are ilitterate like Zuma," says teacher to pupil.
A minor furore has broken out at Ridgevale Primary School following a remark a teacher made to a pupil.
Allegedly the teacher told the pupil after he could not get a maths answer right that he was “illiterate like Zuma”.
The mother complained after the child came home and told her that he had asked the teacher who she was going to vote for. She allegedly answered “not the ANC because Zuma has not gone to school”.
The mother who can not be named to protect the child’s identity asked, “Why should a teacher utter such a statement to 10-year-olds, who are very young and impressionable? It is clear that the school has become an arena to push political agendas in a very subtle way. She (the teacher) was playing a DA agenda by discrediting the ANC president.”
The accused teacher, spoke to The Star newspaper. She denied the allegations, saying it was taken out of context.
The school allegedly defended the teacher.
When the Record spoke to principal TJ Jordaan, he said that the Department of Education gave him instructions not to speak to the press. He did tell the Record though that the department has launched a full investigation.
“The incident has been taken completely out of context,” said Jordaan.
I am a parent of 2 Children at Ridgevale Primary School. Both my children have been there for 3 years and are extremely happy there, we as parents have no problems.
At a school that is predominantly black, I have never heard any political agendas being pushed from anyone at the school, being not the Principal, Teachers, Office staff, Ground staff or any of the students. Whether you be pink, purple, green or orange we as parents and the students all get treated with the same amount of fairness.
I do not feel it was right that Miss da Silvas name be printed as the issue has not been resolved.
Both my children, one being in Grd 4 and the other Grd 2, being CHILDREN and wanting to know everything as all children do have asked me on many occasions about the posters of the political parties going up what it means, and how many different parties do you get. Children are exactly that children, they sometimes do miss interpret what is being said to them.
I think a small issue, that could and should have been handled internally is being blown out of proportion, it could land up hurting more people than those that were involved, including the school’s reputation, which in my personal opinion Ridgevale Primary School is one of the better government schools in the area, with a very high regard to the education of children.
I also do not find it fair the amount of flake that teachers have to deal with, in majority of classes their are 40 children with 1 teacher, I personally find it at times difficult to deal with 3 never mind 40, our teachers do not receive the respect they deserve.
Ridgevale is a very good school and I am proud to have my children there.
I find this whole issue laughable. Yes,maybe the teacher should have kept her thoughts on the president’s education to herself but it seems to me as if the mom of this child is wanting to turn it into a whole political debacle. She says in one of her statements that there are DA Advertisements all along the lampposts surrounding the school and yes there are but that is not because the school issued it. The DA have advertisements all along lamposts in Helderkruin,Wilro Park and the Roodekrans area. So im guessing this means that the DA has those areas as well. Perhaps if the ANC and there supporters were a little more jacked up,they could have done the relevant advertising before the DA beat them to the punch. I just think that this one slip of the tongue is now being blown WAY out of proportion. Ridgevale is a wonderful school and in no way do they push any political issues onto any of the children there. Both my children are in Ridgevale,one in Grade 4 and one in Grade 2 and not once have they spoken about politics. If anything, Ridgevale is one of the better schools in this area. I think this whole matter is really pathetic and that this mother is now just looking to turn it into a political matter because the elections are nearby.
Must be a slow day at Caxton when they feel the need to re-hash unverified stories from The Star, not just once in their electronic version, but then change the words around a little, and 9 days later print the same story on their front cover in the print edition.
As for the headlines, Riaan van Zyl, perhaps you should look up the word “ilitterate” (in both copies) and you will see that it is indeed spelt illiterate. Comes back to bite your butt, doesn’t it?
I note with interest Riaan van Zyl’s twitter handle: @GonzoZyl.
Given the calibre of his reporting here, it may be prudent to note the definition of Gonzo:
gonzo
ˈgɒnzəʊ/
adjective
N. Amer.informal
adjective: gonzo
1.relating to or denoting journalism of an exaggerated, subjective, and Fictionalized style.
Glad we can take the Roodepoort record seriously……