The hashtag #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh is trending in South Africa as a school in the capital, Pretoria, faces a backlash for allegedly telling black school pupils to straighten their hair.
Videos and photographs of pupils protesting at Pretoria Girls High School – some sporting Afros – went viral over the weekend.
A petition, which has 5,000 signatures so far, has been set up asking the authorities to investigate the school: Learners at Pretoria High school are demanding that racist practices at the school are brought to an end. Girls attending the school have been forced to straighten their hair; are accused of conspiring when standing in groups and face other intolerable comments and actions.”
The provincial education minister is to visit the school this morning to look into the controversy.
The BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says Panyaza Lesufi has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to such things.
He has shut down schools judged to be racist in the past, she says.
