Christina Ward, Big Bay
My nephew recently moved to Big Bay and could no longer attend his old school as it is too far away.
We have been going around trying to register him. My husband is American and is very amused by all of this.
The first place we went to, he asked me, “Why are all the pupils black and the teachers white?”
I had no answer for him. The second school was a mixed bag of all sorts and he did not comment. At the third school, Melkbos High, he said “Is this what apartheid was like?”
I laughed and presumed that it just happened that every person we saw was white.
That was until we got the registration form.
Every other school was just a form, but Melkbos required a photo of the pupil.
Needless to say my coffee-coloured nephew was promptly rejected, but I am just wondering, is a photo the new “politically correct” way of just asking a child’s skin colour?
I know that there are several other reasons he might have not made it, but it will always feel to this young man like he just was not the right colour to receive a decent education from the school nearest to him.
Melkbosstrand High School, it is 2018 and you are in Africa… drop the photo.
Your application form is already filled with other innocent questions that make it clear who you are looking for.
Dr Ian van Loggerenberg, Melkbosstrand High School governing body chairman, responds:
With all due respect, we take note of the unsubstantiated comments in the letter.
