JOHANNESBURG
Three South African students were hospitalized on Tuesday after being stabbed at a school in the coastal city of Durban during an alleged racial altercation that caused the school to close for the day.
According to a statement from the KwaZulu-Natal province’s Education Department, the authority became aware of the unfortunate altercation that occurred at Centenary Secondary School over the past two days.
“The department strongly condemns any form of violence in schools and is treating this matter with the utmost urgency,” it said.
A video posted on social media shows students yelling at each other as they fight.
Several local media reports said the fight began as a result of a suspected racist incident at the school, which is still being investigated.
Several students were also reported to have been injured during the chaos.
The department has dispatched officials to the school to collect information and meet with all relevant stakeholders, including school administration, educators, students, and parents.
“The department is also working closely with law enforcement authorities to ensure that those responsible for instigating or escalating the violence are held accountable,” the statement said.
Despite the end of apartheid three decades ago, isolated incidents of racism still occur in South African society, including schools.
In 2019, South Africans protested against a school in the North West province that allegedly separated students based on race in the classroom.
At the time, a photo surfaced online of Black kindergarten students sitting separately in a corner of a classroom, away from their white classmates. It caused uproar in a country still recovering from the wounds of racial segregation.
“Acts of violence and any form of discrimination have no place in our schools, as they undermine the core values of respect, tolerance, and unity that we seek to instill in our learners,” the Education Department said.
