The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) says it will investigate Curro’s racially charged social media post.
The department added that it acknowledges the apology statement released by Curro Holdings regarding its recent post, which conveyed a racially unbalanced narrative.
This week, the privately funded education group came under fire after its post caused a social media stir over its depiction of the career aspirations of its learners.
Following this outcry, the prominent education group swiftly acknowledged and addressed the post on X portraying children in various workplace roles, which perpetuated inappropriate stereotypes.
The post, now deleted, drew criticism for depicting a black child as a cashier and a white child as a veterinarian.
Curro has since apologised for the picture and has taken it down from its various platforms.
“Curro Holdings acknowledges that a post we published on social media portraying children in various workplace contexts was offensive due to the inappropriate stereotypes it depicted,” the company said.
In a statement on Wednesday, Gauteng Departmental spokesperson Steve Mabona said this acknowledgement should be seen within the background of recent racial challenges that Curro has faced, one of which involved a black educator being called a monkey at one of its institutions.
“The GDE does not take such racial incidents lightly as they may be cultivating attitudes which reflect a society that has not fully dealt with racism, and this poses a threat not only to the education system and the model citizens it envisages to create, but also to a nation that still tirelessly works towards overcoming such attitudes,” said Mabona.
Mabona said there is a need to investigate Curro Holding’s entire value system following the recent racially charged incidents.
Last month, Curro made headlines when one of its black teachers was fired without having undergone a disciplinary hearing, allegedly for coming late and taking French leave. Previously, this teacher had been labelled a monkey.
The labour union, Sadtu, slammed the private school for failing to hold the teacher’s disciplinary hearing in a procedurally and substantively fair manner.
Sadtu reacted in shock and dismay when the former English and history teacher at Curro Academy Protea Glen was shown the door with immediate effect
Mabona added, “Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the constitutionality of Curro’s value system and whether there is enough conscientiousness of racial equality and human rights across all its institutions and personnel.
“It is also pertinent to verify whether there are indeed appropriate means of accountability for those who may refuse to embrace equality and non-racialism at its institutions.”
The Star
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