Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has revealed that it might be taking legal action against the consultant firm that conducted a diversity intervention at Fish Hoek High School last month.
WCED head David Maynier made the revelation on Tuesday afternoon, November 8, citing that what had happened during the session had caused much hurt and division.
The race-sensitive diversity intervention was conducted at the school on Monday, October 31 by diversity trainer and political analyst Asanda Ngoasheng. Following the discourse, the workshop was then terminated the next day.
Addressing claims that the workshop had left the group of high school learners traumatised, Ngoasheng said it was because people were not talking openly enough about the country’s apartheid past.
Speaking to CapeTalk, Ngoasheng revealed that she was approached by the WCED in June and had created age-appropriate content for the workshop.
Ngoasheng said the workshop was structured to empower children to understand and embrace each others’ differences after an alleged racism incident occurred at the school.
Commenting on the incident, Maynier said following the termination of the programme the department had immediately launched an investigation into the incident to ensure accountability for the events that took place and to ensure that they would not happen again.
He said: “Today, I have taken the following additional action. I have instructed the Western Cape Education Department to undertake an urgent review of any policies, guidelines, or regulations that govern the department’s procurement of services by external diversity consultants.
“I have also requested that Western Cape government legal services to provide us with advice regarding legal options relating to the service provider’s conduct during the intervention itself, including whether there is scope for a civil claim for damages in this regard,” Maynier said.
Concluding by saying that he was taking what happened at Fish Hoek High extremely seriously, and would be pushing for an in-depth investigation into the diversity intervention.
“We must now focus on the learners writing exams, especially the matrics, and ensure that exams can proceed smoothly. Our priority is, and remains, the well-being of the learners of our province,” he said.